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US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

bloomberg.com

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Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#131

Post by notahacker »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41
daedrdev wrote: post #4

I think people are blaming AI for a recession caused by trump’s tarrifs and the oil crisis. Businesses fear that oil prices may explode until enough of the economy enters a recession that oil demand decreases, and are already feeling the supply crunch

This comment is completely divorced from the facts given in the article. The main point is that certain types of jobs like customer service reps, secretaries and sales people are being disproportionately affected. If it was just general fears about the economy overall one would expect a more broad-based impact.

Salespeople feels more like a leading indicator of concerns about a recession than AI getting good. They're a profit centre, not a cost centre and AI automating prospecting some aspects of leadgen and the necessary but low value add stuff like meeting notes and formatting proposals should make them more productive not redundant, if anyone's buying. And AI is somewhere between very bad and completely incapable of most other aspects of their job (product demos, networking, in-person meetings, negotiating)

Especially when it's actually "services sales jobs a little up, manufacturing a little down"...

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#132

Post by thayne »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41
daedrdev wrote: post #4

I think people are blaming AI for a recession caused by trump’s tarrifs and the oil crisis. Businesses fear that oil prices may explode until enough of the economy enters a recession that oil demand decreases, and are already feeling the supply crunch

This comment is completely divorced from the facts given in the article. The main point is that certain types of jobs like customer service reps, secretaries and sales people are being disproportionately affected. If it was just general fears about the economy overall one would expect a more broad-based impact.

I think it's more likely an interaction of both. Tariffs and recession lead to companies looking for ways to save money, and AI is both a convenient excuse for reducing headcount, and at least in some cases may actually reducing headcount without hurting productivity too much.

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#133

Post by mikeyouse »

e40 wrote: post #69
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In economies that revolve around credit/debt (the US), once credit stops EXPANDING , that's a huge force pushing the economy down . If everyone's already taken on as much debt as they can, and interest rates aren't consistently marching lower for ~25 straight years, it's going to be a little harder to grow. Doesn't make it impossible, just harder. We're paying for growth we got 25 years ago now. Wish we invested that…

This is precisely why DJT wants to control the Fed and lower interest rates. It would be a short-term win for him and the economy.

At the expense of much worse inflation..

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#134

Post by mempko »

winrid wrote: post #117
interstice wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay but - if an industry can afford more employees than it has is there a real reason not to have them? Aside from shareholder greed etc.

Yes because the most optimized company builds the most wealth and power and puts you out of business or destroys you.

If this was true, the big tech companies would be the most optimized. Maybe efficiency isn't the biggest factor.

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#135

Post by LogicFailsMe »

mapontosevenths wrote: post #81
LogicFailsMe wrote: post #55

Honey, I overhired during the pandemic and I need a scapegoat for the layoffs!

Thats been mostly straightened out for years. This is tariffs, oil, and uncertainty more than anything. When I worked in finance the thing that made the analysts happiest was a split election wherein neither side could accomplish much. We now have the opposite of that, and worse a capricious leader who makes huge changes without much justification or explanation. Pressing "shuffle" on the economic policy doesn't help…

you just keep right on believing that but I'm on the front lines and we still have plenty of people that need to be laid off and we need a reason so AI is as good a reason as any other.

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#138

Post by bee_rider »

interstice wrote: post #112
amazingamazing wrote: post #31

The reality no one ever wants to talk about is that big tech doesn't need as many employees that it has. Anyone who has worked in big tech knows it is true.

Okay but - if an industry can afford more employees than it has is there a real reason not to have them? Aside from shareholder greed etc.

Adds more coordination…

IMO, rather than hiring more people than necessary, we should have a safety-net so that our society isn’t structured around “work or die.” I bet we’d see much lower admin costs at that point, as people aren’t incentivized to find less-essential tasks.

Re: US is starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI

#139

Post by khuey »

cmiles8 wrote: post #93

There’s very little evidence of AI replacing jobs en mass. There a ton of evidence that underperforming companies are trimming fat, with CEOs citing AI impacts rather than their own bad decisions that led to the fat that needed trimming.

AI is perfect for this because you get to sweep bad decisions you made under the rug and look like a forward-thinking visionary. Why would any CEO not blame their layoffs on AI, true or not?
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