Covid-19 Driven Advances in Automation and Artificial Intelligence Risk Exacerbating Economic Inequality
The covid-19 pandemic has necessitated interventions that reduce physical contact among people, with dire effects on our economy. By some estimates, a quarter of all jobs in the economy require physical interaction and are thus directly affected by the pandemic. This is highly visible in the medical sector, where workers and patients often come into close contact with each other and risk transmitting disease. In several countries medical workers have experienced some of the highest incidences of covid-19. Moreover, as patients were advised to postpone non-essential visits and procedures, medical providers in many countries have also experienced tremendous income losses.
