Discovering our humanity

Artificial intelligence will make us more productive and better-off than ever before. And, in the process, it will force us to examine what makes us human.

Workers are scared that artificial intelligence (AI) will eat their jobs, which has made many hesitant to embrace it. Some of these Luddites want AI stopped in its tracks. However, the possibility of streamlining operations has excited bosses and investors. What will AI do to productivity and the jobs market? While it will dislodge many non-creative in-person jobs, it will also drive a productivity boom that will leave us much better off.

Artificial intelligence will help us produce more stuff in less time. And the things we make will be better. As a species, we’ve always invented and used tools to improve our lives. Millions of years ago, we harnessed fire, the wheel and the blade. Then we developed agriculture, gunpowder and medicine. Most recently, we built factories and then the internet. All of these helped us produce more with less.

In modern history, few things have helped us as much as the internet—it drove a productivity boom. Workers could communicate, retrieve information, an…