PHOTO: AFP

AFP, Geneva

The global artificial intelligence market is projected to reach $4.8 trillion -- roughly the size of Germany’s economy -- by 2033, the UN said yesterday, warning nearly half of jobs worldwide could be affected.

While AI is transforming economies and creating vast opportunities, the technology also risks deepening existing inequalities, the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD warned in a report.

In particular, the report cautioned that “AI could impact 40 percent of jobs worldwide, offering productivity gains but also raising concerns about automation and job displacement”.

While previous waves of technology mainly impacted blue-collar jobs, UNCTAD highlighted that knowledge-intensive sectors would be left most exposed by AI.

This means advanced economies will surely be hardest-hit, it said, adding though that these economies were better positioned to harness the benefits of AI than developing economies.

“The benefits of AI-driven automation often favour capital over labour, which could widen inequality and reduce the competitive advantage of low-cost labour in developing economies,” UNCTAD said.

In a statement, the agency chief Rebeca Grynspan underlined the importance of ensuring people are at the centre of AI development, urging stronger international cooperation to “shift the focus from technology to people, enabling countries to co-create a global artificial intelligence framework”.

Survivor Tin Maung Htwe is comforted by his sister as he receives treatment yesterday, a day after his rescue from the ruins of a hotel in Sagaing following the March 28 earthquake. Entombed under his hotel bed for five days in the debris, two things enabled teacher Tin Maung Htwe to survive Myanmar’s devastating earthquake: old school lessons and his own urine.