AI is destroying jobs – and the energy crisis could make that much worse | Larry Elliott

Every wave of new tech has come with a doomsday scenario. But governments just aren't planning a human response on the scale required

The transition to a world of artificial intelligence has given a whole new meaning to the concept that capitalism can only renew itself through creative destruction. This is the idea that clapped-out technologies have to be replaced by new ways of doing things, even though the process can be brutal.

That has been the way of things for every new wave of inventions since the dawn of the industrial age in the mid-18th century, but with machines now displaying cognitive skills, able to both think and learn, the potential for economic disruption is all the greater.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist