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

wsj.com

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

#31

Post by boshalfoshal »

jmathai wrote: post #8

"AI won't take your job. Someone who uses AI will." That someone is your co-worker and will soon be your co-worker's co-worker. I don't see how the rate of job creation can come close to the rate job loss we'll see for a few years.

The first line is just some cope people use to tell themselves they are different.

Someone using AI won't "take" your job, they'll just get more done than you and when the company inevitably fires more people because AI can continue to do more work autonomously, the first people to go will be the people not producing as much (i.e, the people not using AI).

In the limit both groups are getting their jobs taken by AI. Knowing how to use AI is not some special skill.

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

#33

Post by nunez »

rightbyte wrote: post #10
sandspar wrote: post #4

Could be a FUD article for clicks. But in my limited circle I've noticed lots of people simply... drop out. Like they get fired or quit then basically retire in their mid 30's. I don't know where these people are getting money from. Some people have kind of half-assed business ideas, like one of my buddies is designing his dream board game, another buddy is building an online wine merchant portal or something. In gen…

> I don't know where these people are getting money from Inheritance?

Definitely inheritance.

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

#34

Post by drillsteps5 »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #26

Starting with theirs hopefully. All I see is bullet points being poorly communicated through LLMs these days.

+100

LLMs are second to none in generating somewhat believable BS, while being mediocre to absolutely abysmal in executing actual tasks. Remind you of anything?

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

#35

Post by dpoloncsak »

jmathai wrote: post #27
asielen wrote: post #15

I don't trust most CEOs perspectives on AI at all, they are far too removed from the actual work to know what AI can and can't do. When I hear a CEO say this, what I hear is that they are going to use AI as an excuse to do massive layoffs to juice stock price and then cash out before the house of cards comes tumbling down. Every public company CEOs dream. The GE model in the age of AI. Will AI drastically reshape ind…

Doesn’t really matter why you lost your job though, does it? Especially when the job loss is wide spread.

The argument, I think, is that if AI cannot actually replace these jobs, either other companies will pop up to fill the holes, or they will quickly reverse their position once negative results start coming in.

Sure, you can have all of SalesForce run entirely by AI, but people may just find a better solution that actually works. Claude ran a vending machine after all, but it was deemed a failure.

So yeah, maybe there's a rocky month or two, and I'm not trying to downplay the severity of that...but the demand for the roles these services fulfill will still exist, and become market opportunities

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

#36

Post by nobodyandproud »

paulddraper wrote: post #9

Yes? What do you think technological advancement does?!? It removes work. Now, if you say that unlike for every other time there isn’t more opportunity created…I guess you have an interesting point. But yeah — duh. I don’t know many assembly programmers. They’ve been “wiped out.”

It replaces one type of work with another, and reduces quality.

Automating, then, commoditizing, then centralizing has lead to a drastic reduction in food quality and a critically vulnerable food-supply chain.

We’ve started down a similar path where we do not know how to manufacture.

The logical conclusion isn’t just losing workers, but the science and understanding, due to short-term gains and inability to train the next generation.

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

#37

Post by jmathai »

dpoloncsak wrote: post #35
jmathai wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t really matter why you lost your job though, does it? Especially when the job loss is wide spread.

The argument, I think, is that if AI cannot actually replace these jobs, either other companies will pop up to fill the holes, or they will quickly reverse their position once negative results start coming in. Sure, you can have all of SalesForce run entirely by AI, but people may just find a better solution that actually works. Claude ran a vending machine after all, but it was deemed a failure. So yeah, maybe there…

I think it’s more likely that AI will make everyone in a department 25% more efficient. This means a department of 5 people will become a department of 4 people.

AI will have taken one person’s job.

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

#38

Post by credit_guy »

jamesgill wrote: post #29

'AI' doesn't make hiring, layoff, or corporate strategic decisions. Public pronouncements speak of AI as some disembodied, inevitable agent out there directing the world, when really it's just humans engaging in competitive capitalism. TL;DR: We always have a choice. And as we often do, we're choosing capitalism.

As opposed to what?

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

#39

Post by afinlayson »

janalsncm wrote: post #17
asielen wrote: post #15

I don't trust most CEOs perspectives on AI at all, they are far too removed from the actual work to know what AI can and can't do. When I hear a CEO say this, what I hear is that they are going to use AI as an excuse to do massive layoffs to juice stock price and then cash out before the house of cards comes tumbling down. Every public company CEOs dream. The GE model in the age of AI. Will AI drastically reshape ind…

Well, that means they will continue to do it until it starts hurting their bottom line. Targets missed, sales down, etc.

At some point the people who were laid off start competing against the company they used to work for at a fraction of the price. A company that only has a few real people and the rest AI that has cushy executive margins can be out priced by those who have access to the same AI features and just want a reasonable wage.

We could also see CEO wages fall as their job can be done by anyone because of AI.

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

#40

Post by ozgrakkurt »

jmathai wrote: post #8

"AI won't take your job. Someone who uses AI will." That someone is your co-worker and will soon be your co-worker's co-worker. I don't see how the rate of job creation can come close to the rate job loss we'll see for a few years.

I really don’t see how someone is going to take another developers job unless the subject is developing cookie cutter landing pages or todo apps.

Other comments here say things like lower 80% will be laid off etc. but current LLMs are more like bottom 10% would be laid off, maybe.

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