Be cautious about AI: CEA

September 12, 2024 11:35

Artificial intelligence (AI) can both augment and displace labour, and there is a need to choose the right balance between the two. The onus is as much on the government as on the private sector to consider the medium-term consequences of AI, Chief Economic Advisor Dr V Anantha Nageswaran said on Wednesday.

"If we have to avoid the social consequences of capital-intensive or technology-intensive growth' we need a greater compact between the private sector, government, and the public so that we can enjoy the demographic dividend and achieve our dreams of becoming a developed nation by 2047 while maintaining both social and economic stability," Dr Nageswaran said while addressing an event by the All India Management Association, highlighting the importance of finding the right balance between capital and labour.

The CEA said that labour should be treated as a resource and asset since it involves humans with emotions. Viewing capital and labour purely from the economic framework of scarcity versus surplus is the wrong approach, the CEA said. He cited the example of how treating labour as a commodity has led to the erosion of small towns and cities in the developed world.

Stressing that female labour force participation in urban India hasn't returned to pre-Covid levels, the CEA said that post-pandemic, the Indian industry has increasingly adopted flexible labour arrangements, leading to lower wages and benefits.

"From 2019-2020 to 2022-2023, corporate profits increased fourfold," he highlighted.

However, noting some positive developments, Dr Nageswaran said that the number of firms with more than 100 workers has grown faster than the number of firms with fewer than 100 workers.

"There is a need for the creation of jobs with protection, regular salary payments through banking channels, and post-employment retirement benefits and health insurance," the CEA added.

Since it is not known what the looming presence of AI will do to services sector employment, Dr Nageswaran said one should not or cannot abandon the agriculture sector itself as a source of employment generation.

Ruchika Chitravanshi, Shiv Rajora/Business Standard

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Many Khalistan supporters...: Trudeau drops bombshell

'There are supporters of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's government in Canada, but they do not represent all Hindu Canadians'

NEET aspirant held hostage, raped for 6 months in UP

The police said the ordeal began for the student in December 2022, when she was putting up at a city hostel. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kalyanpur) Abhishek Pandey said the case was registered on Friday after she approached the...

India won't travel to Pakistan: BCCI informs ICC

BCCI has intimated the International Cricket Council about India's inability to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next year.

27 killed in suicide bombing at Pak railway station

The explosion ripped through the provincial capital Quetta's railway station as passengers gathered on the platform before the scheduled departure of the Jaffar Express to Peshawar.

Maharashtra to see 'friendly fights' on 29 seats

Friendly fights, however, are more complicated for the MVA, especially since smaller parties who are part of the INDIA bloc are also in the mix.