For Clues About How A.I. Will Change Work, Look to the Past
Economists hope earlier episodes of labor disruption, from the Industrial Revolution to the Great Depression, can help us prepare for the age of artificial intelligence. In December 1931, economists gathered in Washington to discuss the threat that technology posed to American workers. Switchboard operators were being rendered obsolete by the dial telephone. Movie-theater musicians were superfluous in the age of “talkies.” Teamsters — men driving teams of horses — were losing their jobs to drivers of gasoline-powered trucks. Such disruptions…