Major public investment in higher and other levels of education akin to?the US¡¯ investment after the Second World War is essential to help ¡°manage¡± the rise of AI, which could otherwise bring a ¡°new era of fascism¡±, according to economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

The Columbia University professor delivered a lecture as part of the Royal Society¡¯s ¡®You and AI¡¯ series, in which he said a key issue was AI¡¯s potential to bring a further rise in inequality by making some jobs obsolete.

He told the audience in London: ¡°If you look at those groups who supported our ¨C I don¡¯t know what to call it ¨C the person in the White House now, you realise the dangers of not managing it [the impact of technological change on work] well; the correlations between those who supported him and unemployment, low wages, deindustrialisation ¨C the [links with] the world of work are very clear and fairly unambiguous.

¡°If we don¡¯t manage this [the rise of AI] well¡­it could well be a new era of fascism, with a lot of remnants and memories of what happened in the thirties.¡±

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The event coincided with the launch of a British Academy and Royal Society of existing academic research on AI¡¯s potential impact on the world of work. It finds a consensus emerging that 30-40 per cent of jobs in the UK are ¡°automatable¡±.

Answering questions from the audience, Professor Stiglitz said: ¡°At the end of World War Two, the United States had a much higher debt to GDP ratio [than today], of about 137 per cent. Our per capita income was a fraction of what it is today, and yet we said to everybody who had fought in the war ¨C every young man and a lot of women ¨C you can get as much education at the most expensive school that you can get into for as long as you want.¡±

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He added: ¡°If we could afford it then, we can afford it now. That turned out to be very important in restructuring our economy from agriculture to a manufacturing economy. That was really the critical skill transition.¡±

Times Higher Education asked Professor Stiglitz after his lecture about the comparison between the rise of AI and the US¡¯ post-1945 spending on education for GIs. He said the current challenge was ¡°in some ways¡± even more acute ¡°because it is clear that the jobs that can be routinised, many of them will be replaced. So unless you have some skills that enable you to handle the non-routine things, you are becoming obsolete.¡±

He added: ¡°There are some people who think education is the answer ¨C and I think it¡¯s part of the answer [along with] the other things like anti-trust [laws]. Spending more on¡­health, high school and elementary school are important [too].¡±

Alan Wilson, a member of the steering committee that produced the British Academy and Royal Society report, said there is ¡°much we can do now to ensure the advantages of AI are shared equally among the population, and that technology is used to boost productivity and growth. Adopting a broad post-16 curriculum which incorporates maths, science, humanities and social sciences would go a long way in building resilience to future change.¡±

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john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com