Fears that AI could replace jobs overlook a harsher reality: demographic change. Aging societies face a serious labor shortage that threatens economic stability. With millions of people retiring and fewer young workers coming through, productivity must increase significantly, and automation is the only scalable solution. Examples such as South Korea show that aggressive automation is becoming inevitable.
Immigration alone cannot close the gap in the labor market, and slowing down technology would exacerbate the downturn. Instead, the economy and society should invest specifically in AI and robotics. However, the changes must be accompanied by strong social protection measures and productivity gains must be distributed more widely in order to ensure long-term stability.
