The relentless threat of artificial intelligence taking our jobs away

I recently came across a quote by the father of Information Theory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Claude Shannon: “I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” Shannon did not seem to like human beings much, but this view set off another thought process in my mind. As a technology writer and digital transformation practitioner, the second-most asked question of me is: “Will artificial intelligence (AI) take our jobs, and what should I do to protect mine or my child’s”? (For the most oft- asked query, you will have to read on).

Whether AI will take our jobs or create new ones is one of the greatest debates of the modern world. Every instance when a revolutionary new technology comes in, the same thought fearfully raises its head. It bothered Ned Ludd in 1779 after the invention of the Spinning Jenny, which threatened to take his job as a textile factory apprentice.