AI and our tasks Yassamine Mather examines the many problems posed for the workers’ movement by artificial intelligence According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “a new generation of smart machines, fuelled by rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, could potentially replace a large proportion of existing human jobs”. 1 Robotics and AI will cause a serious “double disruption”, as the coronavirus pandemic pushed companies to fast-track the deployment of new technologies to slash costs, enhance productivity and be less reliant on real-life people. We all know about massive job losses caused by the effects of Covid-19. However, the predictions for the next few years are alarming. The WEF estimates that currently approximately 30% of all tasks are done by machines - and, of course, humans do the other 70%. But by the year 2025 this balance will dramatically change to a 50-50 combination of humans and machines. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, “AI, robotics and other forms of smart automation have the potential to bring great economic benefits, contributing up to $15 trillion to global GDP by 2030.”