From Luddites to AI

The dawn of every industrial revolution carries with it a wave of transformative changes. Inevitably, some of these changes disrupt established work patterns, leading to the displacement of workers and provoking social unrest. The parallels between the Luddites of the early 1800s and today's anxieties about artificial intelligence are closer than they might first appear.

The Luddites

The Luddite movement took root in early 19th-century England, born from the fear and resentment textile workers felt as newly invented machinery threatened their livelihoods. Named after their (probably mythical) leader Ned Ludd, they smashed frames and looms in protest, including in the valleys around mills like this one. It was not mindless vandalism: it was a labour dispute conducted against the machines themselves.

The AI revolution

Today, advanced algorithms, machine learning models and autonomous systems are streamlining business operations, often performing tasks more efficiently and accurately than their human counterparts. The anxieties are recognisably the same ones the croppers and weavers felt: will the machine make me obsolete?

What history suggests

The Industrial Revolution, despite the very real displacement it caused, ultimately led to the creation of new roles and industries nobody could have predicted from the shop floor of a fulling mill. Mechanisation freed people to do more sophisticated work, and AI and humans likewise have complementary skills: machines excel at analytical, repetitive tasks; humans contribute creativity, judgement and emotional intelligence.

The lesson

Rather than resisting change as the Luddites did, society can prepare for it, focusing on re-skilling and up-skilling, so that the people disrupted by the new machines are the same people who benefit from them. The Luddites lost their fight with the machines. The task this time is to make sure nobody has to fight them at all.