Instruction: Identify the assumptions that must hold for the statement to be valid, then choose the correct option. Statement: The rapid advancement of automation and artificial intelligence could lead to significant job displacement, but it also presents an opportunity to create new jobs in emerging industries. Assumptions: I. Automation and AI could cause job losses in some sectors. II. New industries will emerge as a result of automation and AI. III. The displacement caused by automation is temporary and will be reversed by new industries.
- (a)Only I and II are implicit
- (b)Only II and III are implicit
- (c)All are implicit
- (d)Only I is implicit
Answer
Why
Correct — A.
Rule: an assumption is what the statement cannot stand without. Deny it and see if the statement survives.
Deny I (AI cannot cost jobs): 'could lead to significant job displacement' collapses. I is implicit.
Deny II (no new industries emerge): the 'opportunity to create new jobs in emerging industries' has nothing to rest on. II is implicit.
III goes further than the statement, which never says the losses are temporary. Only I and II → option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)Only II and III are implicit — III is not implicit: the statement never says the job losses are temporary or will be reversed. This option also leaves out I, which the first half of the statement rests on.
- (c)All are implicit — All three fails on III, which adds a promise the statement never makes: that new industries will reverse the displacement. The statement offers an opportunity, not a guarantee.
- (d)Only I is implicit — Only I leaves out II. The second half of the statement, 'new jobs in emerging industries', has no footing unless such industries emerge.
Concept
In a statement-assumption item, an assumption is an unstated premise the author must believe for the statement to make sense. The quick test is negation: deny the assumption, and if the statement falls apart, it was implicit.
Then check each assumption for words the statement does not support. III adds temporary and will be reversed, a prediction the statement never makes, so denying it leaves the statement intact.
Assumption II is worded more firmly than the statement: it says new industries will emerge, where the statement speaks of an opportunity in 'emerging industries'. The key counts II as implicit because that opportunity exists only if such industries do emerge.
Key facts
- Negation test: deny the assumption, and if the statement no longer makes sense, the assumption was implicit.
- A statement that something 'could lead to' job losses does not assume the losses are temporary.
- An assumption that adds a prediction the statement never makes is not implicit.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting III because it sounds reassuring, though the statement never promises the losses will be reversed
12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.6 uses the same instruction on an automation statement, keyed Only I and II, with III ('Automation will eventually replace human labor in all sectors') left out.
15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.10 does the same with an electric-vehicle statement, keyed Only I and II, where III brings in carbon emissions the statement never mentions.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.