Replacing humans with AI 'is more expensive' – jobs will still be lost

Replacing human workers with artificially intelligent bots will be even more expensive, according to new research.

The findings contradict current fears that AI will easily replace humans in the workplace, but the researchers still think this could happen in the future.

Experts from MIT conducted a study and found that using AI instead of humans for certain tasks is currently not cost-effective.

Despite this, the researchers believe that there will still be significant job losses in the future due to the new technology.

They published their findings in a new working document.

It says: “We focus on computer vision, where cost modeling is more developed.

“We conclude that at current costs, US companies would choose not to automate most vision tasks that have 'AI exposure', and that only 23% of employee wages paid for vision tasks would be attractive to automate.”

The study involved imaging AI performing “visual inspection” tasks.

This included bakery-type tasks, which required checking ingredients.

The researchers didn't think AI was necessarily bad at this job.

They estimated that the cost of acquiring the software was not financially worth it if companies could still use human workers.

It was noted that these costs can be reduced over time.

That means jobs that require a lot of visual inspection and similar work could ultimately be compromised.

They wrote: “Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual – and that there is therefore room for policy and retraining to mitigate the impact on unemployment.”

The positive aspects of AI in the workplace were also alluded to.

This included the improved productivity that AI could bring.