Every era of seismic technological change has been accompanied by the fear that these will upend livelihoods and disrupt established ways of life.

From the Luddites smashing looms in 19th-century England to autoworkers walking out over the introduction of robots to the factory floor in the 1980s, resistance has flared before either being crushed or subsiding, giving way to the new economies and social orders the technologies ushered in.

Artificial intelligence—a productivity-maximizing tool to some and an untamable threat to others—has asked similar questions of the social contract in the 21st century, and the optimists appear to be winning the day.

President Donald Trump 's administration considers AI to be eventually and inevitably the driving force of the global economy, and hopes

See Full Page