It’s no secret that robots are stealing jobs—you could even argue they have an affinity for it. Contrary to what the 45th president of the United States likes to believe, automation poses the biggest threat to millions of American jobs. And while he probably won’t look into it, there’s plenty of research to prove this new reality. According to a 2016 report released by research firm Forrester, artificial intelligence and similar technological tools will replace 7 percent of American jobs by 2025. Another 2013 study released by Oxford University scientists Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne estimated the likelihood of automation for 702 wide-ranging professions. At least a dozen of the jobs listed have a 99 percent chance of becoming computerized, including telemarketing, data entry, and tax preparation.
All jokes and terrifying statistics aside, billionaire Mark Cuban says there is something we can all do to prepare for the robot takeover. Instead of fighting the inevitability of automation, Cuban recently argued in an interview with Bloomberg TV that we need to be creative and adapt to technological progress. This is good news for all the anxious English majors out there who might be dismayed by the current demand for coding jobs. “I personally think there’s going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering,” Cuban said.
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Ultimately, the mega-rich software developer predicts the economy will benefit more from original thinking than number crunching. “When the data is all being spit out for you for you, options are being spit out for you,” Cuban said, “You need a different perspective in order to have a different view of the data.” English, philosophy, and foreign language majors all stand to benefit from a disruption in the workforce. But for the millions of others who see their jobs disappearing faster than they were created, the government will have to intervene.
While there are countless ways for U.S. officials to tackle this problem, Cuban suggests investing in programs like AmeriCorps as a practical solution. Drawing upon the creative talents of individuals to benefit their local communities could be an effective way to create meaningful work. The biggest hurdle in that case may be ideological, but if we can create new jobs while changing the culture to value public service, the United States will be better off in more ways than one.
To see Bloomberg TV’s full interview with Mark Cuban, check out the video above.
