The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that it is not clear what effect artificial intelligence will have on reducing the need for labour and on labour costs. The Globe's guest columnist George Athanassakos writes that for example, self checkouts have failed to live up to their promise. According to recent reports, they have not led to more efficient checkouts, and have increased thefts. Moreover, there is little to suggest that they have reduced the need for workers. As well, computer chipmaking jobs are highly specialized. The U.S. wants to build its supply of qualified workers, but it will take time -- ask Intel, which cannot find enough qualified people to work in the new U.S. plant it is building. Eventually, some workers will be replaced by automation, but the remaining highly specialized jobs will continue to command high wages. Finally, AI may have lost some of its original lustre. Traffic volume on Microsoft-backed OpenAI's Chat GPT has been falling. Job postings for AI specialists are now 50 per cent below what they were last year. The chief executive officer of Nvidia has been selling shares in his company. In two weeks this past September, he sold $70-million (U.S.) worth of stock.