How AI automation could boost employment: The role of demand

Re:How AI automation could boost employment: The role of demand by phkahler on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @09:39PM (#18557613)

The article does not go far enough in expanding the scope of consequences. When consumers start buying more stuff at lower prices, they are diverting money that would probably be spent on other things. Hence there is no net change in consumer spending, only a shift in where they spend their money.

Automation always results in labor cost reduction for the one implementing the automation. If it did not, they wouldn't do it.

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Re:How AI automation could boost employment: The role of demand by marcosdumay on Wednesday November 28, 2018 @10:09PM (#18557722)

That's a misunderstanding. For each unity of a good, production costs go down, as do labor time. But because the goods are cheaper, more people may want to buy them, or people may want more of them, so the total labor time goes up.

That effect become known by the name of Jevon's paradox. If you want to, wikipedia has a large and well explained article. It has been spotted on practice enough times so that one should not question its existence. It's also the reason why software development salaries have kept increasing while the tooling allows for larger and larger productivity.

That said, it only happens some of the time, when demand has the correct properties.

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