The latest development in artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, could cause a significant shift in the day-to-day roles of white-collar professionals, reversing decades of tech-driven wage inequality. Automation has had a dramatic impact on blue-collar workers in the US, resulting in job losses due to machines replacing humans in routine tasks. At the same time, wages have increased for those with higher degrees of education or qualifications to do high-skill work.
Recent research conducted by OpenAI, the organization behind the development of ChatGPT, suggests that this sophisticated new form of AI could target a wider swath of the workforce (specifically, 80% of workers) and more than half of the tasks involving these white-collar professionals. This means that the wages for these more educationally-qualified workers could be cut down, reducing income inequality.
Technological entrepreneurs and economists are coming to the conclusion that, depending on how these new AI tools are used, that tech could equal the playing field, reducing inequality. In other words, by using AI to replace high-skill work, middle-skill work could become more in demand and their wages could increase. As MIT economist David Autor put it, AI “doesn’t replace you, it makes your expertise more valuable.”
Now, if large language-based models, such as ChatGPT, are powerful enough, they could replace white-collar workers or even augment them. This could give way to a new era where these educated professionals are no longer the sole beneficiaries of inequality. Depending on how regulation, training and government guidance of technology and innovation takes shape, the spread of AI could drastically reduce the pay gap between the high and low tier of workers in the US.
OpenAI, the company behind the development of ChatGPT, hopes to make AI-driven technologies accessible to more people, for more use cases. With the help of technology, it hopes to reduce the obstacles to automation, making it possible for more people to reap the rewards of smarter machines. OpenAI hopes to lead the charge and create a more equal world with the help of their AI advancements.
MIT economists, such as Maaron Acemoglu, believes that AI could lead to the reduction of inequality but there is still a significant amount of uncertainly around its full capabilities. The possibilities for improving and equalising incomes for the middle and lower classes promises to be a welcomed relief if successful but whether or not this dream becomes a reality relies largely on the regulatory framework, training and education available to those affected.
