Can artificial intelligence reduce wage inequality? Toyama urges caution

A recent Stanford University study suggests that artificial intelligence could significantly reduce wage inequality and increase average wages. 

University of Michigan School of Information professor Kentaro Toyama, an expert on AI and its impact, says the results of the study should be received with caution. 

In an interview with WJR 760AM, Toyama said he is “personally skeptical” of the study’s findings. 

“It has some interesting things to its model, but it is ultimately just a model,” he says. “Another thing to think about is that most studies like this are just one of dozens or possibly hundreds that look at the same kind of problem from different angles. As a scientific community, we usually have to look at the whole thing taken as a whole rather than assuming that any one paper is right.”

Toyama noted that the study outlined three possible ways AI could affect jobs: by automating and eliminating them, by augmenting workers to make them more productive, or by simplifying tasks so that people with fewer skills can do the same work. 

While the framework is interesting, he warns that it’s making a lot of assumptions. 

“A lot of this paper is based on a whole set of rickety assumptions that I would say are rickety enough that the final conclusion necessarily isn’t credible,” he said. 

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Listen to the full interview with Toyama on WJR 760AM. 

Kentaro Toyama is the W K Kellogg professor of community information and professor of information at UMSI. Learn more about his research by visiting his UMSI faculty profile.