JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon has said artificial intelligence could “move too fast for society” and cause “civil unrest” unless governments and businesses support displaced workers.
He said while advances in AI would have major benefits ranging from increasing productivity to treating diseases, the technology may need to be phased out to “save society.”
Dimon said that companies and governments cannot ignore AI or “put their heads in the sand”. He told an audience at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos that the Wall Street lender will likely have fewer employees in five years’ time as it rolls out AI.
“Your competitors are going to use it and countries are going to use it,” he said. “However, it may move too fast for society and if it moves too fast for society then governments and businesses need to step together in a collaborative way and figure out a way to retrain people and get through this over time.”
Dimon said local governments may need to use aid programs that support wages and offer retraining, relocation and early retirement.
The 2 million commercial lorry drivers in the US are an example of an area that may need support as driverless trucks hit the road, he said.
“Should you do it all at once, if two million people go from driving trucks making $150,000 a year to the next job (that might be) $25,000? No. You’ll have civil unrest. So do it in a phased manner,” Dimon said.
“If we have to do this to save society… there will be more production in society, we’re going to cure a lot of cancers, you’re not going to slow it down. How are you going to have plans if it does something terrible?”
Dimon, who was speaking before Donald Trump’s address, offered measured criticism of the US president’s increasingly aggressive approach toward Europe and NATO and his demands to annex Greenland.
“If the goal is to make Europe stronger rather than fragment them, I think that’s fine,” Dimon said. “I will use my moral persuasion, my economic persuasion, my intelligence and my military to push Europe to do the things that are right for Europe. The leadership of Europe has to do this, it really can’t be done by America.”
Dimon revealed his concerns about Trump’s immigration restrictions, and called for calming the “inner anger” over the issue.
“I don’t like seeing five grown men beating up little women,” Dimon said, referring to scenes of violence involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Rounding up criminals is one thing, Dimon said, but he would like to see data showing who has been caught and whether they broke the law.
Dimon said many immigrants have played important roles in the American economy, such as in healthcare, hospitality and agriculture. He said, “We all know them. They are good people and should be treated that way.”
Jensen Huang, chief executive of semiconductor maker Nvidia, whose chips are used to power many AI systems, argued that labor shortages rather than mass pay were the threat.
Playing down fears of AI-driven job losses, Huang told the meeting in Davos that “energy is creating jobs, the chips industry is creating jobs, the infrastructure layer is creating jobs… jobs, jobs, jobs”.
He said: “This is the biggest infrastructure build in human history, it will create a lot of jobs.”
Many of those jobs are tradecraft-related, Huang said, such as plumbers, electricians, construction, steelworkers, network technicians and people setting up equipment for AI rollouts. He said this is already boosting wages for people involved in building chip factories or AI datacenters in the region in the US.
Huang also argued that AI robotics was a “once in a generation” opportunity for Europe, as the region had an “incredibly strong” industrial manufacturing base.
“This is your opportunity to transcend the age of software,” he argued, an area where Silicon Valley has long outstripped Europe.
