人工智能时代的工作与意义（英）

Working Paper Work and meaning in the age of AI ______________________________________________________ Daniel Susskind This working paper is available online at: https://www.brookings.edu/center/center-on-regulation-and-markets/ The Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings creates and promotes rigorous economic scholarship to inform regulatory policymaking, the regulatory process, and the efficient and equitable functioning of economic markets. The Center provides independent, non-partisan research on regulatory policy, applied broadly across microeconomic fields. January 2023 Title: Work and Meaning in the Age of AI1 Draft: Final Draft, 2 January 2023 Abstract: It is often said that work is not only a source of income but also of meaning. In this paper, I explore the theoretical and empirical literature that addresses this relationship between work and meaning. I show that the relationship is far less clear than is commonly supposed: There is a great heterogeneity in its nature, both among today's workers and workers over time. I explain why this relationship matters for policymakers and economists concerned about the impact of technology on work. In the short term, it is important for predicting labour market outcomes of interest. It also matters for understanding how artificial intelligence (AI) affects not only the quantity of work but its quality as well: These new technologies may erode the meaning that people get from their work. In the medium term, if jobs are lost, this relationship also matters for designing bold policy interventions like the 'Universal Basic Income' and 'Job Guarantee Schemes': Their design, and any choice between them, is heavily dependent on policymakers'—often tacit—assumptions about the nature of this underlying relationship between work and meaning. For instance, policymakers must decide whether to simply focus on replacing lost income alone (as with a Universal Basic Income) or, if they believe that work is an important and non-substitutable source of meaning, on protecting jobs for that additional role as well (as with a Job Guarantee Scheme). In closing, I explore the challenge that the age of AI presents for an important feature of liberal political theory: the idea of ‘neutrality.’ Keywords: Technological change; Artificial Intelligence; Income; Meaning; Neutrality 0. Introduction Every day, we hear stories of systems and machines taking on tasks that until recently we thought only human beings could ever do: making medical diagnoses and driving cars, drafting legal contracts and designing buildings, composing music and writing news reports. These technological developments have challenged the traditionally rigid distinctions that economists use to distinguish between tasks that can and cannot be readily automated: in particular, the distinction between ‘routine’ tasks that can be automated and ‘non-routine’ that cannot (see, for instance Susskind