Is ChatGPT as Disruptive as Uber

Prarthana Prakash tells us The economist who predicted that A.I. would replace half of all U.S. jobs now says ChatGPT is the equivalent of Uber disrupting the taxi industry—and it could lead to lower wages. He notes that ten years ago Oxford University economists Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne predicted that 47% of U.S. employment was threatened by automation. That prediction now seems to be premature, but the underlying sentiment certainly has merit, especially giving current progress in generative AI.

I think the key quotes in the article are from Frey.

Uber didn’t reduce the demand for taxis

Uber didn’t reduce the demand for taxi drivers. It, if anything, increased the number of people driving cars for a living, but it reduced the amount [and] the earnings capacity of incumbent drivers.

Instead of just reducing existing work (and hence losing people jobs), will it create new kinds of jobs?

The hard part to figure out is how we can use A.I. to create innovation that then creates new occupations and new industries.