TY - GEN
T1 - No rage against the machines
T2 - 5th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2022
AU - Zhang, Baobao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 ACM.
PY - 2022/7/26
Y1 - 2022/7/26
N2 - Labor-saving technology has already decreased employment opportunities for middle-skill workers. Experts anticipate that advances in AI and robotics will cause even more significant disruptions in the labor market over the next two decades. This paper presents three experimental studies that investigate how this profound economic change could affect mass politics. Recent observational studies suggest that workers' exposure to automation risk predicts their support not only for redistribution but also for right-wing populist policies and candidates. Other observational studies, including my own, find that workers underestimate the impact of automation on their job security. Misdirected blame towards immigrants and workers in foreign countries, rather than concerns about workplace automation, could be driving support for right-wing populism. To correct American workers' beliefs about the threats to their jobs, I conducted three survey experiments in which I informed workers about the existent and future impact of workplace automation. While these informational treatments convinced workers that automation threatens American jobs, they failed to change respondents' preferences on welfare, immigration, and trade policies. My research finds that raising awareness about workplace automation did not decrease opposition to globalization or increase support for policies that will prepare workers for future technological disruptions.
AB - Labor-saving technology has already decreased employment opportunities for middle-skill workers. Experts anticipate that advances in AI and robotics will cause even more significant disruptions in the labor market over the next two decades. This paper presents three experimental studies that investigate how this profound economic change could affect mass politics. Recent observational studies suggest that workers' exposure to automation risk predicts their support not only for redistribution but also for right-wing populist policies and candidates. Other observational studies, including my own, find that workers underestimate the impact of automation on their job security. Misdirected blame towards immigrants and workers in foreign countries, rather than concerns about workplace automation, could be driving support for right-wing populism. To correct American workers' beliefs about the threats to their jobs, I conducted three survey experiments in which I informed workers about the existent and future impact of workplace automation. While these informational treatments convinced workers that automation threatens American jobs, they failed to change respondents' preferences on welfare, immigration, and trade policies. My research finds that raising awareness about workplace automation did not decrease opposition to globalization or increase support for policies that will prepare workers for future technological disruptions.
KW - artificial intelligence and the future of work
KW - automation
KW - political economy
KW - public opinion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137160161&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85137160161&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3514094.3534179
DO - 10.1145/3514094.3534179
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85137160161
T3 - AIES 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
SP - 856
EP - 866
BT - AIES 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Y2 - 1 August 2022 through 3 August 2022
ER -