Hundreds of Millions of Jobs Will Simply Disappear: Pashinyan on Artificial Intelligence

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, today participated in the international conference titled "Promoting Social Justice: The Future of Work in the Current Era." This was reported by the Prime Minister's office.

During his speech, the Prime Minister stated, "Issues related to work and labor relations undoubtedly pose significant challenges, and as is often said in such cases, they also present great opportunities. Ultimately, we must acknowledge that work is the fundamental factor underlying civilization and development. Over time, the nature, essence, and relationships associated with work are changing significantly. Countries and societies that can address the challenges and contradictions that arise will emerge victorious."

"During the first industrial revolution, workers attacked and destroyed factories and machines, raising a very simple and rational question: if machines that work instead of us have emerged, then what will we do and how will we earn a living? This was a legitimate question. However, over time it became clear that the labor force liberated by the emergence of factories ensured the subsequent scientific and technological progress, because people, having received free time, began to think about flying into space. And now, if we put it quite figuratively, those who became unemployed as a result of the first industrial revolution, or their descendants, are now conquering space."

"We are essentially in the same situation today because with the advent of artificial intelligence, hundreds of millions of jobs on our planet will simply disappear. This situation requires very concrete management, addressing, and planning solutions. In addition to global challenges, the Republic of Armenia also faces local challenges related to social policy and labor policy. Generally, the greatest challenge is that, firstly, the state and society should be able to realize their development potential through work, and secondly, equally importantly, the individual should be able to develop and reveal their potential at the level of work. These two necessities do not always coincide because the challenge is to enable people to have the opportunity to work and the challenge is to ensure that people have the opportunity to engage in work that is enjoyable for them, that provides a certain standard of living, and reveals and develops a certain potential. Here, at this crossroads, we find dilemmas, because there are people who work but do not enjoy their work, there are people who are forced to work simply to meet their needs, and there are people who do not work for various reasons."

"Of course, in recent years, we have seen a substantial decrease in unemployment in Armenia. But I must also note that we are facing challenges that, on the one hand, operate under the logic of certain social declarations, and on the other hand, do not ensure the full realization of the country's economic and individual labor potential. For instance, the social security system currently implemented in the Republic of Armenia, which has been operating for many years, does not at all correspond to modern requirements. In essence, we encounter a situation daily when the system of social benefits encourages people to remain poor, conflicting with our strategy, which states, 'Overcoming poverty through work,' because, to be honest, I know no other way to overcome poverty than through work. But we see examples where socially vulnerable families and individuals sometimes receive healthcare and other services, and from the moment a person decides to work, meaning they try to contribute to the economy and their own well-being, from that moment on, we deprive them of a number of benefits, which means that our policy at its core is a mechanism that allows the poor to remain poor and take no steps to overcome that poverty."

"Of course, for many years we have been discussing reforms in the social security system, and I hope that we will be able to implement these reforms, because the challenges are indeed serious. We have the determination to implement these changes; the problems before us are not easy to solve, but we must go down this path. As in other cases, the transformation of times and the essence of work have an extraordinarily significant impact on education and the reforms carried out in the education sector, because only education can provide a person with the opportunity to find work they love, find the methods of work that bring them higher incomes and better reveal everyone’s individual potential."

"I am confident, as the Director-General of the International Labor Organization already outlined in his speech, that all these issues will be the subject of discussion at the conference and will be on the agenda. I also hope that as a result of the conference, we will be more confident in our decisions or will find answers to questions where we are not so sure that they are indeed the right answers to the issues on our table and included in our agenda. I wish success to the discussions of the conference," he said.

This event is being held in Armenia for the first time. The main topics of the conference include Social Justice in the Era of Global Transformation, Challenges of the Emerging Labor Market and Social Justice, Social Justice and Women’s Economic Empowerment, Social Justice and the Future of Work. The event was also attended by President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, Director-General of the International Labour Organization Gilbert Houngbo, representatives of the legislative authority, government members, high-ranking officials from various countries, experts, and representatives from science and youth.