Economist Steve Hanke argued that artificial intelligence (AI) is unlikely to replace workers on a massive scale because deploying it remains too expensive.
Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and a former member of President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, argued that many expectations surrounding AI overlook the technology's real-world costs.
While speaking to Business Insider, he said AI requires significant investments in electricity, water and computing infrastructure, making large-scale worker replacement less practical than many forecasts suggest.
The Cost of AI "The idea that artificial intelligence will be free to use and virtually costless to provide is delusional and dumb," Hanke told Business Insider.
He added that AI is "incredibly costly" and "very resource intensive," requiring "huge amounts of water, power, and physical capital" such as graphics chips.
