Historian warns AI threaten 'middle section jobs'

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AI is posing a threat to "middle section jobs," warned Yuval Noah Harari, the writer of the international best-seller "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind."

"The greatest danger is to the middle section jobs," the Israeli historian told CGTN host Ji Xiaojun in an exclusive interview.

The high-end jobs usually require creativity and innovation, which AI could not replace at this time, said Harari.

"And at the very bottom, you may find people whose jobs are so cheap that it may not be economical even to try to replace them," he added.

Harari explained that for many middle section positions, mainly routine works with high payments, the future is not quite bright.

The private companies could consider replacing middle section employees with machines that don't require salaries at all, he stated.

The AI debate

Elon Musk /Reuters Photo‍

Recent AI development has stirred up quite a debate over the future of this technology.

Many movies and novels have already tried to show what would happen if the robots go rogue. But in real life, such an event has never been reported.

Some tech figures also warned the world of AI's danger. Like Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla has repeatedly said that AI threatens human existence.

But others disagree with such a claim. Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft, has publicly rejected Musk's idea.