Artificial intelligence is not the threat, fear is

DAR ES SALAAM: Alot of the time, I’ve been thinking about what IT professionals say, especially when they try to explain why AI is so important in our daily lives and how it will improve service delivery.

Politicians who probably do not know enough about AI sometimes argue that AI is going to kill job opportunities, hence hearing things like the evolving technology is going to have a negative impact on the job market.

But where is the truth? I mention this because many people are scared and do not look back to see how much history can teach us. Unquestionably, people like to freak out.

Someone always yells, Oh my God. This will destroy everything, including jobs for young people, when something new is made. And now, that deafening shout is called Artificial Intelligence. People everywhere say that machines will take over all the work, all the creativity and all the power. But the truth is that machines do not kill people; laziness does. Fear does.

The refusal to change does. Let’s go back a little. Candle manufacturers mourned the rise of electricity, fearing their craft would be lost forever. But the same shift created many more jobs, including electricians, light bulb makers, electrical engineers, power plant workers and lighting designers.

The world moved from candles and wicks to wires and switches. One job disappeared, but a whole new industry was established. Blacksmiths grumbled when cars replaced horses, as shoeing horses and building carriages had been their main source of income. But instead of those horses, a whole new world emerged: Mechanics, vehicle makers, tyre producers, petrol station owners, truck drivers, road builders and traffic engineers.

The transportation industry did not perish; it shifted from horses to motors. People cried that bank tellers would be replaced when ATMs arrived, yet banking grew and new jobs were created in digital banking, fraud investigation and financial technology. When lifts became mechanised, lift operators disappeared. Instead, lift mechanics, safety engineers and architects took their place.

People always jump to the worst conclusion. But here we are, more connected, more advanced and more employed than ever.

ALSO READ: DSE in 2026: Streams and trip wires to watch

Technology does not make the world fall apart. It changes. It rebuilds itself in a different way. I feel like I’m grieving because the change is just a new way of saying, Robots will take our jobs. People want to move forward without feeling bad, succeed without working hard and change without putting in any effort. They want the world to move forward, but only if their daily lives do not change. But that’s not how life works. Five new jobs are created for every job that dies.

Yes, one human might lose their job on the floor when a plant gets robots. But five new ones show up: The technician who builds the robot, the engineer who writes its code, the operator who keeps it running, the analyst who examines its output and the designer who makes it safer.

That’s how progress works: One door shuts and five more open. Check out the past. The internet put an end to many old enterprises, such as video rental outlets, travel agents and CD shops. But it also created millions of new jobs, including app developers, influencers, online teachers, delivery drivers, site developers and digital marketers. The job market didn’t shrink. It expanded in ways no one saw coming.

Now the same thing will happen. AI will handle monotonous, repetitive, soul-crushing tasks, the kind of labour that leaves people feeling dead inside. But it will create room for more creative, human employment, such as storytellers, researchers, ethical reviewers, problemsolvers and innovators.

Work won’t go away; it will change. From an economic perspective, countries that embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) can boost productivity and competitiveness in the global economy. AI helps businesses make more with the same or fewer inputs by automating routine processes and making human decision-making better.

This lowers production costs and makes businesses more efficient in fields including manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, finance and public administration. At the national level, let’s say in Tanzania, this will help to increase productivity, leading to faster GDP growth, greater export competitiveness and a stronger connection to global value chains. Countries that invest early in AI infrastructure, skills and data ecosystems are more likely to attract foreign direct investment, grow high-value enterprises and shift from resourceor labour-based economies to knowledge-based ones.

What many people might not realise is that AI delivers significant financial and structural benefits that extend beyond productivity, strengthening the economy in the long run. Intelligent technologies help governments collect taxes, reduce fraud and better target public expenditure, enabling them to deliver better services for less money. Innovation fuelled by AI also encourages entrepreneurship, creating new markets, jobs and revenue streams across software, data services, robotics and digital platforms.

When combined with policies that include everyone, such as reskilling programmes and support for small and mediumsized businesses, AI adoption can help more people participate in the economy, improve incomes and reduce inequalities between regions and sectors. When used strategically, AI is not just a technological choice; it is also a driver of national development, supporting long-term growth and budgetary stability.