Nils Gilman is a deputy editor of Noema Magazine and the chief operating officer at the Berggruen Institute.
The history of economic progress is a graveyard of tools. The water frame replaced the spinning jenny; the automobile replaced the horse; the spreadsheet replaced the ledger clerk. Each transition was accompanied by moral panics about the end of human utility. Yet, in each instance, the eco...
The strongest version of this narrative is that AI-driven automation will not render human labor obsolete but will instead redefine what is valuable in the workplace. The article credibly argues that while AI will commodify routine cognitive tasks, it will elevate the importance of uniquely human skills—judgment, empathy, and strategic thinking. This perspective is grounded in historical precedents, such as the shift from manual labor to knowledge work, and is supported by economists like David ...