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Lesson 3

We will continue to look into the following questions: Should people be concerned about the possibility of AI replacing humans in jobs? Will AI create or eliminate jobs? Why or why not? We will study the employment statistics for the American states we chose to research in our groups. We will develop claims about the patterns we see and consider those claims in relation to an op-ed piece from Michael Xie, founder, president, and CEO of Fortinet, who oversees the technology vision and strategy for the global network security leader.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I interpret charts indicating patterns of employment across the US?

  • Can I delineate an op-ed argument about how artificial intelligence will affect jobs, written from the perspective of someone in the IT world?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “AI Doesn’t Eliminate Jobs, It Creates Them,” Michael Xie, Forbes, 2018
    • “Charts of the Largest Occupations in Each Area, May 2019,” Division of Occupational Employment Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2018
  • Unit Reader
    • “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?,” Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, Elsevier Inc., 2016
    • “Will Robots Outsmart Us? The Late Stephen Hawking Answers This and Other Big Questions Facing Humanity,” excerpt from Brief Answers to the Big Questions, Stephen Hawking, Spacetime Publications Limited. Used by permission of Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC., 2018

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

In research teams and as a class, we will compare observations about data represented in various states on the occupational employment Statistics chart.

Step 1

In your research groups, re-examine the Occupational Employment Statistics chart for the states you examined for homework.

Compare your data-based observations about the types of jobs in which most residents are employed in those states and your interpretive claims written in your Learning Log in response to the following question:

  1. To what extent do the most common jobs in the states you have examined fall into the high-risk category as identified in “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?”

Using a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool as a guide, construct a joint short, claim-based summary for the states you have examined.

Step 2

Present your group’s claim with the class. Compare the patterns you have observed and claims you have formed for various US states.

Discuss the guiding question as a class, thinking about the US as a whole. Record key takeaways from the discussion in your Learning Log.

Activity 2: Read – Write

In reading teams, we will read, analyze, and delineate a recent Forbes opinion piece by Michael Xie about how AI creates more jobs than it eliminates.

Step 1

As a class, consider the following questions:

  1. What is bias? Create a classroom definition of bias.

  2. What are different ways that an author can show bias in their writing?

  3. Describe how an author’s word choice can impact the tone and purpose of a text.

With a partner, read paragraph 1 of “AI Doesn’t Eliminate Jobs, It Creates Them” and identify words and phrases that impact the tone and purpose of the text, showing the author’s bias.

Share with the class the words and phrases you and your partner identified. Discuss other ways an author may show bias in a text.

Step 2

Join a reading team to read, analyze, and delineate Michael Xie’s 2018 opinion essay titled “AI Doesn’t Eliminate Jobs, It Creates Them.”

Use the Delineating Arguments Tool to write down your thinking.

Consider the following questions:

  1. What are the specifics of the issue that this essay addresses?

  2. Given his background and the ideas he presents, what seems to be Michael Xie’s perspective in this essay?

  3. Does Xie’s background and experience make him a reliable source to discuss AI? How do you know?

  4. What seems to be the position of this op-ed, and where is it most clearly expressed?

  5. What information and claims about the impact of AI on jobs does Xie present in support of his contention that it creates jobs?

  6. Does Xie support his claims with valid and reliable evidence? If so, provide examples.

  7. Does Xie use any language that can be interpreted as showing bias? If so, provide examples. Explain how his word choice does or does not show bias.

  8. Which of the Reasoning and Organization patterns from the Delineating Arguments Tool seems closest to the structure of Xie’s op-ed piece?

As a team, develop an interpretive claim about the essay and its position based on your delineation of its ideas.

Activity 3: Discuss – Write

We will use our analysis and delineation of Michael Xie’s opinion essay to evaluate his argument, using the Evaluating Arguments Tool.

Follow along while your teacher reviews the Evaluating Arguments Tool and discusses the Elements and Guiding Questions section, which is used to evaluate an argument.

Based on your delineation of Xie’s argument about artificial intelligence, note text-based observations and your rating of the argument’s issue, perspective, position, claims, and evidence, all of which you have previously examined.

As a class, discuss Xie’s credibility as an expert on artificial intelligence and his potential bias.

Write down your own rating for these two elements.

Discuss the reasoning, logic, and conclusions of Xie’s argument.

Individually, rate these final two elements, and then make a judgment about whether Xie has presented a convincing argument.

With a partner, compare your evaluations of the argument and your final judgments about why it is convincing or why it is not convincing.

Activity 4: Write

In a timed quick-write, we will synthesize information from Lesson 1–3 to communicate a position about the effects artificial intelligence will have on the job market.

Based on your reading and class discussion, determine your own perspective and position regarding the issue of artificial intelligence’s effect on the job market.

Use your delineation and evaluation of Xie’s opinion essay, along with the data and information you gained from "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation" and the Occupational Employment Statistics website to develop and support your position.

In your Learning Log, write a paragraph that presents and explains your perspective and position. Include references to texts or websites we have examined.