Plan this opinion essay about technology with the ideas and outline below, write it on a 40-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Artificial intelligence will make many human workers unnecessary, so governments should limit its use in the workplace.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
Pick two or three points from one or both columns. You do not need all of them, and your own examples score better than memorised ones.
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 250 minimum
Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.
Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
Some people fear that artificial intelligence will make many workers redundant and therefore argue that governments should restrict its use at work. I disagree with this view, although I accept that the risks to certain jobs are real.
It is true that AI can already perform many routine tasks faster and more cheaply than humans, such as processing invoices, answering simple customer queries or sorting parcels. Clerks, call-centre staff and warehouse workers could lose their positions, and the hardship for those families and towns would be serious. Governments are right to take this seriously and to monitor the speed of change.
Nevertheless, limiting the technology would be a mistake. Firms that adopt AI become more productive, and the resulting growth creates demand for new roles, just as the arrival of computers produced careers in software, data analysis and online marketing that nobody had imagined before. Rather than restrict AI, governments should invest in retraining so that displaced workers can move into these areas. Countries such as Singapore already fund individual learning accounts that allow adults to study new skills throughout their careers. Moreover, a ban in one country would simply let competitors who use AI freely gain an advantage, leaving local businesses weaker and jobs even more at risk.
AI can also remove dangerous or dull tasks, freeing people to concentrate on work that needs creativity, empathy and judgement, such as teaching, nursing and design. Machines still struggle with these human qualities.
In conclusion, artificial intelligence will undoubtedly change the labour market, but the best response is education and support for workers, not legal limits on the technology. I therefore disagree with the proposal.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| job displacement | workers losing jobs to machines |
| automation | using machines in place of people |
| productivity gains | more output per worker |
| reskilling | learning new skills for new work |
| regulate | control by rules |
| technological unemployment | job loss caused by technology |
Answer random Part 1, 2 and 3 questions on an exam timer.
Average your four skill bands, rounded the way IELTS rounds them.
Compare an IELTS band with TOEFL, Duolingo and PTE scores and CEFR levels.
Look up the IELTS score a university asks for, with the source.