07 Apr 2025 From therapy to coffee: Should we worry that AI is rewriting human roles?

A socially isolated young person in the United States turns to ChatGPT for advice on how to deal with depression. A coffee entrepreneur in Finland asks AI for the exact mix of beans to blend the perfect cup. Robots take food orders from diners in a Nairobi restaurant. A school in China outfits children with headbands that relay information to a central console about their levels of concentration in class. Should we be afraid?

Anxieties about a takeover of humanity by automation, machines, and technology are not new. In the Western world, the fears date back to the 1800s when textile automation fueled protests against job loss. Disquiet about AI first emerged three quarters of a century ago when pioneers warned of its potential to mimic and replace human labour.  Fears of imminent job loss bubbled to the surface, particularly in sectors characterized by repetitive tasks.

With the digital revolution, the fears have gone mainstream and global. Today, it is not only manual jobs that are replaceable but also those requiring empathy and cognitive capacities – such as mental health therapy and scientific research. The informal sector employing the majority of global south populations is at risk as some jobs become formalized, earnings are eroded, and power is concentrated in platforms and governments.

Global big tech founders have weighed in on AI’s impact on jobs, society, and the future of innovation. Humans will no longer be needed for most things because AI will readily perform tasks requiring specialized human skills (Bill Gates). Probably none of us will have a job (Elon Musk). Software engineers will do much more for a while and then at some point, fewer will be needed (OpenAI’s Sam Altman).

AI displacement of human labour brings a risk of deepening power and economic inequalities across and within nations. Research on the platform economy or “gig work” finds an algorithmic allocation of jobs that exacerbates gender inequalities.

Such risks are not immediately evident to those at the forefront of AI regulation, whose attention is often focused on ethics. To this point, a spokesperson from the EU at a side event at the recent UN Commission on the Status of Women admits that the gender dimensions were overlooked in the protracted process to regulate online work.

History suggests that societal adaptation naturally follows technological advancement. Present-day AI however seems to be more threatening due the sheer rapidity of change. Will there come a time when AI will follow its own distinctive logic unconstrained by human and societal values? On this point, the jury is still out.

Image: Shutterstock AI