Socially construct the right AI

…and achieve societal benefit, not harm

The rush of headlines spelling gloom and doom in employment because of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to have gained speed recently: “Within a year, India’s call centres will lose most of their business thanks to AI,” says one headline, quoting the head of one of India’s largest software services companies. Oh god! I thought, the call centre industry employs more than 300,000 Indians, mostly under 30, unmarried, college-educated, and consisting of both men and women. If they lose their jobs, it will be calamitous. Then came a statement from Goldman Sachs saying that more than 300 million white-collar jobs could