Much has been written about artificial intelligence destroying jobs.

If you lost your job because your employer replaced you with AI, you know firsthand that AI can cause job losses.

However, if we look at the big picture, as AI affects the overall economy over time, I don’t believe it will be a net destroyer of jobs. On the contrary, AI is likely to create far more jobs that it destroys.

Throughout history, whenever there has been a technological advancement, society has questioned whether that technology will cost jobs.

We can look at key technological advancements like the automobile as one example.

Before cars, people used the horse and buggy as their primary means of transportation.

When cars arrived, if companies that made things associated with the horse and buggy failed to adapt to the new technology (cars), they eventually went out of business.

The classic example? Buggy whip companies, which made the whips drivers used to get horses to pull the buggies.

However, far more jobs have been created as a result of the introduction and proliferation of the automobile than were lost in the industries that supported the horse and buggy.

My mother was a keypunch operator. Before computers, she used punch cards with holes in them to program machines to perform specific tasks.

It was much faster than doing everything by hand, but far slower than today’s computers.

When computers took over, keypunch operators became obsolete. Although those jobs disappeared, computers went on to create far more jobs than they replaced.

The internet is another example of a new technology that has dislocated many workers, but it has also created far more jobs than it destroyed.

Amazon is a good example. It has replaced many traditional retailers, but it has also created millions of jobs — both through its own workforce and by helping hundreds of thousands of independent businesses sell products on its platform.

While some retail jobs have disappeared, many new ones have been created because of Amazon.

This is not only true in the United States. The internet has allowed thousands of small companies to sell their products all over the world, and selling and distributing these products has created many thousands of additional jobs in countries across the planet.

It is early in the development of AI, and we can’t know what the true, long-term impact of it will be on the job market.

However, if history is a reference for what happens when a new technology is introduced, I believe AI will end up generating far more jobs that it destroys.

The key for workers is to adapt quickly. Historically, those who have resisted change have been left behind.

Retraining in a way that incorporates AI into whatever job the worker is seeking is the best way to not only avoid becoming irrelevant and obsolete, but to benefit from AI.

I also do not believe that AI will replace people with specific skills. AI is simply a tool that one can use to accomplish tasks faster and better.

Even if someone can type in information into an AI program, and get a step-by-step list of things required to accomplish a given outcome, I believe most people will still want to have an experienced person who does that particular task regularly, complete the task for them.

For example, even though AI can create a detailed investment strategy, with an asset allocation and even individual investments to purchase to build a portfolio, I don’t think the average person is going to want to take on that task themselves.

Most people will still prefer to pay someone who builds portfolios for a living, and does it on a regular basis.

Our economy has always run on specialization, expertise and experience, and I do not think AI will change that.

One final thought: We already are seeing many companies that initially fired employees because they thought AI could replace those employees, that are now rehiring those same employees.

This is because the companies — including Klarna, IBM, Google, Salesforce and Ford — have learned through hard experience that AI cannot replace people.

Most of us still want to talk to a real person who knows what they are talking about, who has empathy, and who can explain things to us in language that we can understand.

That human touch is vital, and the need for a human connection will never change.