Artificial intelligence: “The work that humans do will be devalued,” says Joshua Bengio

According to Joshua Bengio, the significant presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the job market could cause “significant social unrest”.

In an interview on the program “Salut Bonjour”, the expert notes that many office worker jobs will be replaced and automated in the coming years.

“We used to think of people on a physical level, but it's really on a cognitive level, people who do office work [qui seront remplacés]”, he said.

“The significant risk is that the value of human work will decrease relative to the investments and returns from the capital of the people who own these machines,” he continues. “It could really create significant social unrest, and if that ever happens, we need to take care of it before it happens.”

The recipient of a medal of honor from Quebec's National Assembly on Tuesday says governments' recent awareness of the risks associated with AI has been inadequate.

“All the changes that are coming in the world of work, education, national security, in general, governments are starting to become more aware that they need to be addressed,” he says. But the amount of priority is relatively low compared to the amount it can bring.

The risks of slippage are already very significant with the technology that exists today.

“I've seen pictures lately with my voice saying things I've never said, and we're going to see more and more of that, and we're definitely not well-prepared. People need to understand that we're going to be inundated with believable lies.

OpenAI's recent deal with several media outlets to train ChatGPT on “journalism” is particularly troubling to a researcher who sees it as a danger to democracy.

“Truth is the lifeblood of the battle for democracy,” he says. If we don't trust each other when we're so engrossed in the things that exist to occupy us or entertain us, how can we collectively debate the big decisions we need to make?

“The problem is that we let things go according to market forces, but we have the possibility to make collective choices rather than let the curriculum go,” he adds.

Watch the full interview in the video above