No proof that artificial intelligence and automation will take away jobs, says new report

Concerns about job losses from the wider adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots across industries may be exaggerated, according to a new study.

There is no “conclusive evidence” that more jobs are being lost than created, as global unemployment rates have stayed relatively stable since 1991 even with the addition of 1.6 billion people into the global workforce, said the report Digital Technology and Inclusive Growth by independent think tank the Luohan Academy.

“Robots and artificial intelligence are still in the early stages of development and their ability to replicate sophisticated reasoning remains a matter of conjecture,” the report, which was released on Thursday, said.

Authors of the study include academics from prominent institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the London School of Economics and New York University.

The Luohan Academy was founded last year by Jack Ma, executive chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, to address universal challenges faced by societies arising from the rapid development of digital technologies. New York-listed Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

The findings published by the Luohan Academy come as China makes a concerted push in the development of AI technologies as part of efforts to secure the country’s future in the next technological and industrial revolution. China, the world’s second largest economy, is also the biggest market for industrial robots, according to the International Federation of Robotics.