AI will take over 50% of jobs by 2027
Computer scientist and venture capitalist Kai Fu Li has reiterated his position that artificial intelligence (AI) technology will replace at least half of the world's workforce by 2027.
Kai-Fu Lee initially predicted that AI will take at least half of all human jobs by 2017. This position has stuck since then. In a 2018 interview with IEEE Spectrum, for example, he pointed out that although humans have many talents and abilities that AI cannot achieve, AI will still replace half of us at work.
“Most jobs are repetitive,” Kai-Fu Lee said at the time, pointing to “truck driving, telemarketing, dishwashing, fruit picking, assembly line work, and so on.”
He went on to say that he believes AI will eventually become a more important backbone technology than electricity and the internet combined.
In a recent interview with Fortune, he doubled down on his comments when asked if he thought the forecast still held weight in 2024.
In an interview, Kai Fu Lee stated that his prediction is as follows:
“Of course it's unmistakably right. In 2017, 2018, 2019, people criticized me for being too aggressive, and I was a little scared at the time. But when Gen AI comes out I think everyone is on a team and I believe it's the right pace.
Few figures in the tech world have a resume as packed as Kai Fu Lee's. He worked as an executive at Apple before becoming the founder and director of Microsoft Research Asia. After his tour with the Redmond company, he signed on as Google's vice president and head of Google China.
As of May 2024, he is the founder and chairman of Synovation Ventures, a VC fund focused on global technology products and services. He is the founder of 01.AI, which focuses on developing products and services for the Chinese market.
Kai Fu Li's predictions on the future of AI are rooted in his belief that China will eventually surpass the rest of the world in artificial intelligence technology.
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