Global industry titans are becoming ever more positive about the promise of “conscious” artificial intelligence. The hope is grand and exhilarating. Most envision a future in which machines respond not only to commands, but also to context and reason, and which might even reflect. They are convinced that such systems will liberate humans from mundane work, allowing them to devote themselves to creativity and innovation.
Beneath this optimism, there is a greater doubt. If machines displace humans on a large scale, who will fuel the demand side of the economy? Could world growth be stable when the very basis of participation starts to falter?
In the Asia-Pacific region, countries like China, India and Japan are racing to integrate advanced AI into manufacturing, logistics and services. The rapid adoption of these countries illustrates both the potential for economic transformation and the social challenges that come with accelerated automation.
The mirage of limitless productivity
Artificial intelligence has already transformed manufacturing, logistics and design in ways previously unimaginable. Computers now catch mistakes before they occur, study market changes in real time and manage assembly lines with little human intervention. The productive potential of the world has increased, yet the social price of this acceleration is not yet well grasped.
According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study (2023), AI could contribute up to 15.7 trillion dollars to the global economy by 2030, raising GDP by as much as 26% in some regions. China and North America are expected to capture nearly 70% of these gains due to early adoption of AI in manufacturing and logistics. The World Bank also indicates that countries that adopted automation between 2015 and 2023 experienced GDP growth 1.4 percentage points greater than those that did not.
But economic growth does not always indicate human progress. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), employment elasticity has also fallen sharply as a result of AI. For each 1% increase in productivity fueled by AI, traditional jobs declined by about 0.6%. Output grows, but participation shrinks. The gains from growth increasingly go to owners of capital, not of labor.
Manufacturing productivity in India continues to increase year over year, while the industry’s share of employment continues to decline. Similar patterns are visible across the Asia-Pacific, where nations like China, South Korea and Vietnam are seeing output soar while traditional employment opportunities lag, highlighting the regional dimension of the automation challenge.
The hidden cost of displacement
History has cautioned us for a long time against such paradoxes. When Britain mechanized its textile manufacturing in the eighteenth century, production boomed, but so did inequality and discontent. Each new wave of industrialization created fresh wealth while supplanting traditional ways of life. What distinguishes the current shift from previous ones is the pace and magnitude of disruption.
The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 300 to 800 million jobs might be lost worldwide through automation by 2030. New jobs will become available, but the transition will not be smooth and will not be distributed evenly. Skilled professionals will adapt to new roles, while millions of low-skill and mid-skill workers will lose their jobs. The danger in this is the creation of hyperspecialization and concentration of wealth at a global level.
The World Economic Forum (2024) advises that skills will severely disrupt 44% of the global workforce within the next five years. If the purchasing power of the masses refuses to keep up with technological advances, the world’s economy may ultimately slow down.
The social consequences of excessive automation
Behind these statistics is mounting human insecurity. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim wrote of “anomie” as a state of normlessness in which people no longer feel they belong to society. It is creeping silently across economies that are hurtling towards automation with weak social protections in place.
The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer found more than 60% of respondents in 28 nations worried about losing their jobs to automation. The psychological cost of job loss cannot be discounted. Escalating social distrust, intolerance and mental anguish are not accidents; they are collateral damage of an economic system that is concerned with output growth but not emotional security. When human work is boiled down to obsolescence, dignity itself is at risk.
If the AI ascension happens without ethical consideration, then the gap between technological progress and human well-being will grow. Development should not be at the cost of humanity’s cohesiveness and sense of purpose.
A need for conscious care, not just conscious machines
The aspiration for conscious AI is, at its core, a reflection of our own wish to know ourselves. Consciousness, however, is not computation. It is awareness, empathy and moral consideration. The issue is not whether machines might develop consciousness, but whether humans can continue to do so in the face of the pursuit of boundless efficiency.
Real progress will have to go hand in hand with technological and moral advancement. Governments and corporations also have a mutual responsibility to see that AI gains are shared. Profits from automation can be invested back in humans via education, reskilling and public benefit. A few nations are already testing automation taxes, AI dividends and universal reskilling schemes to counteract the gap between innovation and inclusion. Such concepts, ambitious though they may be, are crucial to avoid economic polarization.
Lessons from the past
With every industrial change, humanity learned the same thing in a different way. The first industrial revolution made people more productive, but it also grew inequality. The second created national wealth at the expense of workers. The digital revolution connected billions but made social bonds more fragile.
The age of AI is different in scale and speed, yet it must learn from these earlier chapters. Artificial intelligence has the potential to alleviate poverty, improve healthcare and address climate challenges. However, if it continues without ethical restraint, it may also intensify inequality and erode human meaning. As nations compete for technological dominance, a global framework rooted in fairness and responsibility becomes indispensable.
The way forward
The future of AI will require us to reconcile speed and sensitivity. Progress is not to be judged by quantity, by how much machines can do, but by quality, by how much they will enrich human life. Development is only valuable when it heightens dignity, equality and purpose.
If we move toward conscious AI without cultivating human consciousness, we risk building a world in which intelligence blooms but wisdom perishes. Machines will soon be able to reflect, reason and adapt, but they cannot care. That is a uniquely human advantage, and we should not let it slip away.
[Natalie Sorlie edited this piece]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.
