AI a better assistant than replacement for humans – UNDP
Published:Thursday | May 8, 2025 | 12:05 AMRochelle Clayton/Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
While the use of artificial intelligence (AI) grows rapidly across the world, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is suggesting that it is better at assisting humans than replacing them.
The UNDP shared this analysis in its 2025 Human Development Report, “A matter of choice: people and possibilities in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)”, which was released on Tuesday. It stated that AI was first thought to be capable of taking over jobs currently performed by people, but as time passed, it became clear that this was not possible because technology cannot replace the necessary human relationships.
“The vocabulary around AI often misleads – starting with the term ‘intelligence’. While useful for describing AI abilities, intelligence should not imply that machines are acquiring human traits. AI is not able to frame problems or act on its own behalf. Because AI can do some things so well, some people assume that humans will not be needed to do those things,” the UNDP report stated.
It went on to state that in 2016, AI was anticipated to replace radiologists within the next decade. However, this has proven to be inaccurate globally. According to the UNDP report, the demand for radiologists has grown since then, and the use of AI has introduced additional tasks for these professionals.
“A decade later, the prediction about radiologists has been proven wrong. By contrast, demand for radiologists is growing, with a global shortage at the time of writing. Using AI in a task (reading and classifying medical images) did not mean that AI replaced radiologists for many reasons, three of which merit close consideration.”
The report went on to state the three reasons that were determined to require consideration.
“First, even though AI could execute one task of radiologists, it was useless for several others, including those that are inherently social and require interacting with people and those that are constrained by the institutional and organisational features of radiologists’ work context.
“Second, introducing AI to help read medical images created tasks that did not exist before, requiring new skills such as the ability to understand and interpret the recommendations from AI. So using a machine to execute a task can replace but also create tasks.
“Third, having AI classify medical images liberated radiologists’ time to devote more attention to other tasks, making them more efficient and effective.
“AI not only failed to replace radiologists. It also failed to reduce the value of their work. In the future, AI may replace tasks and even occupations – digital technologies have reshaped the world of work by doing exactly that, and automation tends to reduce employment and wages for incumbent workers even when the economy as a whole is better off, as we will see later.”
In the meantime, Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Commission, revealed that Europe is structuring itself as “an AI continent” as it pushes for more technologically advanced developments. Von Der Leyen, who was speaking during Tuesday’s global launch of the 2025 Human Development Report in Belgium and streamed online, shared that plans are in place to construct 13 AI factories and five Gigafactories “to unlock 200 billion euros in overall investment”.
“AI has moved from fantasy to fact. Two-thirds of people around the world expect to use AI within a year. Areas like health, education, and work are being transformed, and the revolution has only just begun. So how should we deal with this crucial issue? How can we make sure that countries and people benefit from the AI revolution? Here in Europe, we want to be leading as an AI continent to improve lives, promote our values, and help humanity.”
Von Der Leyen added that the Commission intends to expand its reach beyond Europe, including Latin America and the Caribbean. She further stressed the importance of partnering with other countries “so that everyone can take part in this AI revolution”.
“AI can be a gift to humanity. This important report shows that the future is in our hands. The choices we make now will determine our tomorrow. With the right choices, we can open new pathways, helping everyone to thrive in a world with artificial intelligence.”
Furthermore, Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator, also noted that the 2025 Human Development Report points to the fact that the human aspects of AI are important in driving development globally.
“…What this report shows is how human beings and the demand side to a new technology frontier should actually be our focus. This is what the Human Development Report this year is trying to point towards. Now, we don’t have answers in the sense that there is a simple, singular answer, but what we have put our finger on the pulse of is an extraordinary capacity of humanity to shape the things yet to come. And above all, not to be ruled by a technology, but rather to rule its use,” Steiner said on Tuesday.