Andrew Bailey says UK needs to be prepared for displacement of jobs due to AI

The UK needs to be prepared for people to be “displaced from jobs” due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the governor of the Bank of England has said.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Andrew Bailey said the widespread adoption of AI could have a similar impact on the job market to the industrial revolution, when there were concerns over the impact of technology on populations.

“As you saw in the industrial revolution, now over time, I think we can now sort of look back and say it didn’t cause mass unemployment, but it did displace people from jobs and this is important,” Mr Bailey said.

“My guess would be that it’s most likely that AI may well have a similar effect. So we need to be prepared for that, in a sense.”

Mr Bailey said it would likely be “a lot easier” for people looking for employment to secure a job if they had “training, education, (and) skills” around AI in place.

“We do have to think about, what is it doing to the pipeline of people? Is it changing it or not?” he said.

“I think if it’s people working with AI, I’m not sure it will change the pipeline, but I think we’re right to have a have an eye on that point.”

He added AI’s potential to improve the nation’s economy was “pretty substantial”, but stressed: “How quickly it comes through is another question, history would suggest that it does take some time.”