AI will tamp down inflation, provide greater 'social safety net,' Silicon Valley businessman says
Venture capitalist sees 'very large' societal and economic benefits of artificial intelligence
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A prominent Silicon Valley businessman and venture capitalist believes artificial intelligence can spur deflation and create enough growth to help those whose jobs will be lost to the technology.
Vinod Khosla, 69, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Wednesday that while AI will eliminate many current jobs, the technology will allow society to create a "safety net" through the lower price of services such as medical and education.
"If medical services are a lot cheaper, if education services are near free, if eldercare becomes substantially cheaper—and today eldercare is a liability that’s looming for so many nations around the world at a level that people haven’t accounted for—the social safety net is much easier to construct," said Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 before joining venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 1986.
Khosla said that the substantial GDP growth, which he thinks has the potential to climb to 5%, will allow governments to provide citizens affected by the rise of AI with adequate social services.
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Vinod Khosla believes that AI will lower the prices of many services, allowing society to build better "social safety nets" for those who are affected economically by the AI revolution. (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"We will have in that excess GDP growth lots of room to take care of the people who will be adversely affected economically," he said.
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But Khosla said that society will only reap the benefits of the technology if humans don’t get in the way.
AI has the potential to bring deflation and economic growth, Khosla said. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
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"The only question is will we let it happen," Khosla told the newspaper. "You know, maybe unions will come back and will slow it down. That’s entirely possible, but I don’t think so, because the benefits to be gained are very large."