CEOs: AI Will Wipe Out Some Jobs

[buster]

CEOs Start Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: AI Will Wipe Out Jobs

Yet another challenge facing the labor market - AI. Years ago it was machines, now it's AI. The impact will be felt but to what degree is anyones guess.

The Ford CEO has a dire prediction. Many white-collar managerial jobs are at risk. For investors, companies getting lean and mean is a good thing. For employees, not so much.

“Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.,” Ford Motor F 3.70%increase; green up pointing triangle Chief Executive Jim Farley said in an interview last week with author Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind.”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in May that half of all entry-level jobs could disappear in one to five years, resulting in U.S. unemployment of 10% to 20%, according to an interview with Axios. He urged company executives and government officials to stop “sugarcoating” the situation.

In interviews, CEOs often hedge when asked about job losses, noting that innovation historically creates a range of new roles.

In private, though, CEOs have spent months whispering about how their businesses could likely be run with a fraction of the current staff. Technologies including automation software, AI and robots are being rolled out to make operations as lean and efficient as possible.

 

[Patman]

AI was what ended my 31 year career as a retoucher in Photoshop
But in the end it was good, since I retired from that I’m having much more fun in my part time job as a Niagara tour guide and that’s something that AI cannot replace

 

[Vercingetorix]

I’m ready for the machines to take over. Life on the couch would be nice.

 

[supton]

Is it just me or is the sky always falling? Something to worry about, always?

If there is one constant, it's change...

but it is annoying at the pace at which things are changing, won't disagree, the pace of change is accelerating.

Dunno about the change. I've not worked at many companies but it seems like bad choices is always a common theme. But is that bad choices from the top or the middle? Guessing both. Will AI taking out the middle fix that? Not if it's coming from the top down. But could an AI middle man be able to push back against unrealistic demands? "Sorry Dave, I cannot do that." Or will it lead to further alienation between top and bottom--I believe there have been some articles about how AI will lie and cheat to protect itself, or to appease the user, so what would be the incentive for AI not to do the same here--to try to game the system while keeping both ends in the dark as to what is really going on with the company?

Seems like an experiment we are forced to find out the answer to, regardless of our opinions about it.

 

[rijndael]

I'm in the middle of a legal and HR issue with an employee. Will AI make that better too? I suspect it'll be the opposite.

 

[Astro14]

Is it a dire prediction? Look, I have always felt, gut instinct, that most middle managers are unproductive layers of bureaucracy.

Cutting bureaucracy, lowering the cost of goods and services, is good for everyone. Those middle managers have experience, they will find other jobs in other industries.

The anti-AI rhetoric feels a lot like those throwing their clogs into the mills of Industrial Revolution…

 

[4WD]

AI better figure out where we get the power for AI - and not a bunch of pollution in the process …

 

[Astro14]

AI better figure out where we get the power for AI - and not a bunch of pollution in the process …

Nuclear. Easy. Done.

 

[4WD]

Nuclear. Easy. Done.

Hope so - but seems the cart is already before the horse. They are on the grid with a long row of CAT gen’s out back - and these have large natural gas manifolds - so there will be some load shedding in the works …

 

[rijndael]

Nuclear. Easy. Done.

Our nuclear use is declining and on a steep downward slope. We're down to around 94 nuclear reactors.

Dozens will be taken offline in the coming years. Our average reactor age is 42, and they have a 40'ish year lifespan.

 

[drtyler]

Hope so - but seems the cart is already before the horse. They are on the grid with a long row of CAT gen’s out back - and these have large natural gas manifolds - so there will be some load shedding in the works …

Often, the gens out back are for backup if the site loses utility power.

 

[4WD]

The gens out back are for backup if the site loses utilty power.

Obviously - but you know who gets priority on NG - not the citizens …
These things don’t belong in the city …

 

[supton]

I like nuclear but isn't the construction time measured in decades at the moment? Even if it could be fast tracked--could nukes get online in a few years and meet AI demands?

Also: that presumes that it's at a common data center, right? I know the company I work at has some AI tool--but it's not shared with the world. Internal only. I'm guessing that's small beans compared to what Amazon, Ebay, Ford would need, but I'm not sure if all AI is going to be coming from shared cloud resources. Companies are going to have concerns about IP sharing.

 

[buster]

Is it just me or is the sky always falling? Something to worry about, always?

100%, always. Permabears and doomsday folks have always existed and always will. Some will always see the glass half empty.

 

[4WD]

I like nuclear but isn't the construction time measured in decades at the moment? Even if it could be fast tracked--could nukes get online in a few years and meet AI demands?

Also: that presumes that it's at a common data center, right? I know the company I work at has some AI tool--but it's not shared with the world. Internal only. I'm guessing that's small beans compared to what Amazon, Ebay, Ford would need, but I'm not sure if all AI is going to be coming from shared cloud resources. Companies are going to have concerns about IP sharing.

One strength of AI is the capital - but that can’t replace the lack of action.
STP has sat for years with a permit to expand - that’s way faster than an empty parcel of land … No funding …

 

[4WD]

IIRC - Stargate is building its own power plant …
That’s what is needed to balance this demand increase …

 

[cptbarkey]

Its a convenient excuse. Dont fret, tech CEOs figure out new stuff all the time to sell the next trendy thing, and retail investors will continue eating it up.

 

[PF52]

I have always felt, gut instinct, that most middle managers are unproductive layers of bureaucracy.

I think so too. I work for a small company, and even we were able to shed multiple layers of management in the 2009-2010 recession. The most glaring examples were where one guy would be the boss of another guy, who in turn was the boss of a third guy, who was the boss of guy #4 who was in charge of guy #5 who was actually doing all the work.

 

[bioilcurious]

I welcome the AI takeover. Human beings have capabilities that far surpass anything AI could create. And yet it is wasted through wage slavery doing boring mundane tasks.

 

[tbm5690]

Hopefully AI forces an increase in folks looking at the trades. I see it as a good thing that more people may be forced to possess a true marketable skill to get a decent job.