Automation, per se, is not job elimination: How artificial intelligence forwards cooperative human-machine coexistence

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, combined with developments in neuromorphic hardware technologies and ubiquitous computing, promote machines to emulate human perceptual and cognitive abilities in a way that will continue the trend of automation for several upcoming decades. Despite the gloomy scenario of automation as a job eliminator, we argue humans and machines can cross-fertilise in a way that forwards a cooperative coexistence. We build our argument on three pillars: (i) the economic mechanism of automation, (ii) the dichotomy of ‘experience’ that separates the first-person perspective of humans from artificial learning algorithms, and (iii) the interdependent relationship between humans and machines. To realise this vision, policy makers have to implement alternative educational approaches that support lifelong training and flexible job transitions.