The former chief strategist at Morgan Stanley says that AI is triggering a public backlash unlike anything seen in past technological shifts spanning over 100 years.
In a new interview with Norges Bank Investment Management, Ruchir Sharma highlights that today’s AI boom is marked by fear instead of optimism, reversing the pattern that defined earlier eras of innovation, including bubbles that wiped out massive amounts of wealth.
“And there’s one very important distinction with this AI adoption compared to the past big tech revolutions, which have happened. If I can say so, this is the most-hated tech revolution. And what do I mean by that? If you look back at the other big revolutions that have happened, even the bubbles that have taken place, going back again to the famous parallel, which is the late 1990s, all the surveys show that back in the mid-90s and late-90s, people were very optimistic about what the Internet could do for them.”
Sharma says new polling shows a dramatic shift in public sentiment as workers brace for displacement rather than progress. He adds that uncertainty over how to use new tools is amplifying the anxiety.
“Today, the surveys are showing that most people are quite pessimistic about what AI can do. And that’s because of two reasons. One, all the techno optimists are telling them that we’re coming for your job, which is that the big benefit of AI is going to be that we’re going to take out labor costs.
And second is just the fear, which is: what are we going to do with this AI? How do we use these AI tools? Everyone’s telling us that AI is here, and if you don’t use AI, your job can be gone. And people are fearful of it.”
Sharma points to data showing broad unease with the technology.
“So in fact, some of the surveys that I’ve seen show that only about 35% of the people are feeling good about AI. And most of it, in fact, want this to be regulated in some way, because they’re fearful about the impact that AI is going to have.”
He contrasts the public mood with earlier periods marked by confidence in new technologies.
“If I look at the past manias, bubbles, or even if you look at the past big revolutions, people typically are very optimistic about what it’s going to bring, right? Electricity, cars, or even in places like Japan in the late 80s, so much confidence, [and] China, like a decade ago.
But with AI, the big difference I feel is people are like really scared that what is this going to do for me?”
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