Kai-Fu Lee: It is predicted that AI will replace 50% of jobs by 2027

Bullwhip

2024-05-26 07:42Posted on the official account of Beijing Bullwhip

According to Fortune magazine, venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee saw the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence in the labor market long before OpenAI's ChatGPT showed the world the potential of generative artificial intelligence technology.

In 2017, the chairman and CEO of Sinovation Works predicted that AI would have more impact than all technological revolutions in human history combined, including electricity and the Internet, and that AI would be far more capable than humans.

Kai-Fu Lee told CNBC at the time: These are superhuman things, and we think this will appear in every industry, potentially displacing 50% of human jobs, creating a lot of wealth for humanity and eradicating poverty.

Later he predicted that this would happen in the next 10 years.

Seven years later, in March, he sat down with Alyson Shontell, the editor-in-chief of Fortune, at the Fortune Innovation Forum in Hong Kong.

With only three years to go before the timeline he predicted, she asked him if it still holds, and he replied: Actually, it's pretty accurate. People criticized me for being too aggressive in 2017, 2018, 2019, and I was a little nervous at the time. But when the new generation of AI comes along, I think everyone is following suit and believes it's the right pace.

Lee added that AI could replace white-collar jobs faster than blue-collar jobs, calling it a very serious problem that some countries are already waking up to and about.

When asked what parents should tell their children about their future careers, he said that the first thing people should do is stop talking nonsense about kids using ChatGPT to cheat.

He argues that chatbots, which can answer queries on a range of topics in natural language, are another tool, just like Microsoft Word or Abode Photoshop.

Lee went on to say that when kids grow up, enter the workforce, and are evaluated based on their performance, bosses value the end result of their work rather than whether they used ChatGPT or Google searches.

"We need to encourage people to harness AI and use all the tools so they can be their best." He said. "Plus, it's a great way to coach people on what to pursue and what not to pursue."

To be sure, Lee still believes that humans are unique, saying that humans have souls and machines never will. "We have compassion and empathy. We have the capacity to be emotional and to love. We have the ability to connect with others, build trust and earn trust."

In fact, the most important skill, more than any technical or business skill, is the ability to earn the trust of others, and that trust stems from sincerity, teamwork, sharing, and high emotional intelligence, he explains.

"Do I think AI can fake? Yes. Do I think people will accept fake AI, at least for the next 50 years? No. So that's enough time for your child to survive and find the next step for their child." Lee said.

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