The Turing Trap: The Promise & Peril of Human-Like Artificial Intelligence

Brynjolfsson draws a clean distinction between AI that substitutes (automation) and AI that augments (augmentation). When AI imitates the human and replaces them, workers lose bargaining power and value concentrates. When AI augments human capabilities, people keep the ability to capture value and new products and services appear. The problem is that incentives push excessively toward automation — from technologists, executives and regulators alike. The paper proposes rebalancing those incentives to avoid a concentration of economic and political power.