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The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

cnn.com

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Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#11

Post by keybored »

> If the CEO of a soda company declared that soda-making technology is getting so good it’s going to ruin the global economy, you’d be forgiven for thinking that person is either lying or fully detached from reality.

Exactly. These people are growth-seekers first, domain experts second.

Yet I saw progressive[1] outlets reacting to this as a neutral reporting. So it apparently takes a “legacy media” outlet to wake people out of their AI stupor.

[1] American news outlets that lean social-democratic

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#12

Post by sevensor »

What AI is going to wipe out is white collar jobs where people sleepwalk through the working day and carelessly half ass every task. In 2025, we can get LLMs to do that for us. Unfortunately, the kind of executive who thinks AI is a legitimate replacement for actual work does not recognize the difference. I expect to see the more credulous CEOs dynamiting their companies as a result. Whether the rest of us can survive this remains to be seen. The CEOs will be fine, of course.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#13

Post by whynotminot »

There’s a hype machine for sure.

But the last few paragraphs of the piece kind of give away the game — the author is an AI skeptic judging only the current products rather than taking in the scope of how far they’ve come in such a short time frame. I don’t have much use for this short sighted analysis. It’s just not very intelligent and shows a stubborn lack of imagination.

It reminds me of that quote “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

People like this have banked their futures on AI not working out.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#14

Post by FeteCommuniste »

darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

I guess the idea is that the people left working will be made so productive and wealthy thanks to the miracle of AI that they can more than make up the difference with extravagant consumption.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#15

Post by johnwheeler »

I previously worked at a company called Recharge Payments, directly supporting the CTO, Mike—a genuinely great person, and someone learning to program. Mike would assign me small tasks, essentially making me his personal AI assistant. Now, I approach everything I do from his perspective. It’s clear that over time, he’ll increasingly rely on AI, asking employees less frequently. Eventually, it’ll become so efficient to turn to AI that he’ll rarely need to ask employees anything at all.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#17

Post by keybored »

darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

We have consumer capitalism now. Before we didn’t. There’s no reason it can’t be replaced.

Sure there can be rich people who are radical enough to push for another phase of capitalism.

That’s a kind of a capitalism which is worse for workers and consumers. With even more power in the hands of capitalists.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#18

Post by thmsths »

darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

Tragedy of the commons: no one being able to buy stuff is a problem for everyone, but being able to save just a bit more by getting rid of your workforce is a huge advantage for your business.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#19

Post by Der_Einzige »

sevensor wrote: post #12

What AI is going to wipe out is white collar jobs where people sleepwalk through the working day and carelessly half ass every task. In 2025, we can get LLMs to do that for us. Unfortunately, the kind of executive who thinks AI is a legitimate replacement for actual work does not recognize the difference. I expect to see the more credulous CEOs dynamiting their companies as a result. Whether the rest of us can surviv…

Consulting companies like the Big 4 where this happens most are bigger/stronger than ever (primarily due to AI related consulting). Try again.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#20

Post by [deleted] »

monero-xmr wrote: post #4

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_auto... It wasn’t just Elon. The hype train on self driving cars was extreme only a few years ago, pre-LLM. Self driving cars exist sort of, in a few cities. Quibble all you want but it appears to me that “uber driver” is still a popular widespread job, let alone truck driver, bus driver, and “car owner” itself. I really wish the AI ceos would actually make my l…

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