The good news is that many textile experts believe that use of AI in textile mills will reduce waste and increase worker productivity enough so that the U.S. textile industry, including in North Carolina, will increase its competitiveness and boost its production and sales. While the industry will not necessarily regain its dominance of earlier times, it will experience a recovery.
Hence, so far, it appears that the use of AI will create benefits for businesses and for consumers. Yet, some worry about AI being used to produce results that could have adverse outcomes. The news has covered examples, with many of the situations focusing on younger individuals. Of course, this is a concern, and the question is if these adverse uses of AI can be controlled while at the same time preserving the benefits.
The last group to address is workers, and this may be the most challenging group because there will likely be pros and cons for workers.
On the “pro side” is the likelihood salaries will rise for workers who become more productive due to AI as well as for workers who receive special training for developing, maintaining and using AI. There will be a surge in schools creating training in AI and an increase in jobs for AI-trained individuals with good salaries.
But the downside is that AI will likely reduce, or even eliminate, many other kinds of jobs, including many with good salaries. Any occupation that requires analysis of data, such as bookkeeping, investing and even management, will be vulnerable to being performed by AI. A recent study found the use of AI resulted in fewer jobs in engineering, financial analysis, computer sciences and architecture.
This discussion leads to one of the ironic impacts that some experts forecast will occur from AI. This is that AI will lead to a reduction in income inequality. In other words, the gap between higher-paid workers and lower-paid workers will decrease. How so? It is because AI’s analytical abilities will replace numerous high-paying jobs that now perform those analyses, as cited in the previous paragraph. At the same time, workers without that higher-level training will be able to use AI to give the same results, hence increasing their value and pay.
AI is here to stay, and its impacts on our lives will be increasingly seen in the coming years. Will AI be a net benefit to our society? As with most things, AI will have benefits and costs. Clearly, this is a situation where each individual will have to decide.
Mike Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University.