Why Is Artificial Intelligence Repricing Work Before New Jobs?

Paul Kedrosky says artificial intelligence is the fastest adopting technology in history, and its fundamental function is to reprice cognitive labor. The article of faith on the West Coast is that technology always creates more jobs than it destroys. People repeat the claim like a mantra and hope the claim becomes true.

Paul Kedrosky says no general purpose technology has had such broad applicability, been adopted so quickly, and repriced labor at the same time. Repricing labor means work like call centers gets vastly cheaper. As a result, the change is going to be destabilizing long before anyone figures out the equivalent of webmasters. It is happening so much faster than any prior general purpose technology that arm waving about creating more jobs than it destroys belies the lived experience of people who are affected.