The Australian economy has the runs on the board when confronted with technology challenges, giving one minister confidence that will be the case with artificial intelligence adoption.
While there are real risks to jobs and labour force disruption from AI, some of which is already occurring, there was also upside, federal Assistant Treasurer Dan Mulino said on Monday.
Mr Mulino suggested, for example, Australians could see the creation of large numbers of jobs involving empathy and human connectedness.
“I would simply say that when it comes to AI and the labour force, there are real risks, and we will see job losses in particular firms and particular sectors,” he told an Australian Financial Review summit in Sydney.
“But let’s not forget the potential for upside, as we’ve seen in the past.”
Previous waves of mechanisation or technology change in the economy had, in the end, driven more labour market participation.
“We might imagine that we can see a plausible, benign outcome on at least some fronts on AI, even if it’s transformative,” Mr Mulino said on Monday.
“But let’s not forget that our economy and our society has proved to be incredibly adept at creating new professions and new skills in the past.”
In recent weeks, hundreds of jobs at Australian tech companies, such as Atlassian and WiseTech and other companies like Commonwealth Bank, have been lost.
Asked if the government might consider some sort of universal basic income payment to provide security in industries where jobs are being threatened, Mr Mulino indicated it was unlikely.
Some unions raised the issue six years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, after millions of workers were forced onto welfare payments to survive.
The Australian Greens have previously advocated for a universal basic income of about $88 a day.
“My sense is that rather than a UBI, which is going to take our existing … welfare system and then just add massive costs to it, I would rather figure out, are there gaps in our current welfare system where we need to expand it, or maybe provide a slightly better or better designed safety net,” he said.
“I feel that’s going to be better bang for our policy and taxpayer dollar than something universal, is my gut instinct.”
Last week, Atlassian announced it was cutting 1600 jobs across its global workforce, including 500 in Australia, as AI changes the mix of skills it needs.
In February, WiseTech said it would slash 2000 and Commonwealth Bank flagged it would axe 300 jobs as AI reshaped their workforce needs.
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