History tells us about the future of artificial intelligence

Machines are not necessarily good or bad. Whether they destroy or create jobs all depends on how we deploy them, and on who makes those choices

A woman operates a large cotton weaving machine, circa 1930. Most of the struggling handweaving artisans during the 1810s and 1820s did not go to work in the new weaving factories, because the machine looms did not need many workers. Picture: Getty Images

Artificial intelligence and the threat that it poses to good jobs would seem to be an entirely new problem. 

But we can find useful ideas about how to respond in the work of David Ricardo, a founder of modern economics who observed the British Industrial Revolution firsthand. The evolution of his thinking, including some points that he missed, holds many helpful lessons for us today.