The impact of AI on jobs

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:

Anthropic CEO: AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10-20% within the next five years... Governments and companies need to stop sugar-coating what they know is coming

I'm sure that guy has better intuitions than I do. My hope is that with better AI will come more opportunities for humans to operate that AI, bringing something human to the table that AIs still can't replicate. Maybe I should discount that hope. It was only ever a faint hope. I've never suffered from any illusions about the magical nature of the human mind.

[Horace]

Not worried about myself or older generations in general, because money in the stock market is the best hedge I can think of against job-destroying automation in private industry. But still, people will need money to spend, to generate all those profits. More, and more, and more, wealth redistribution is inevitable. Especially when future generations of AI-only companies never go public. I think the main driver of the need to go public, is cost of employees.

[jon-nyc]

I am starting to worry about my son who will graduate from college in 6 years.

[jon-nyc]

Although if he keeps up his gym schedule he may be able to kick AI’s ass by then.

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:

I am starting to worry about my son who will graduate from college in 6 years.

I tell youngsters to consider plumbing school as backup plan. I am thinking it will be much harder for AI to replace plumbers.

[Axtremus]

@Horace said in The impact of AI on jobs:

My hope is that with better AI will come more opportunities for humans to operate that AI, bringing something human to the table that AIs still can't replicate. Maybe I should discount that hope. ...

Unless that "something human" can increase profit, yeah ... discount that hope.

[jon-nyc]

@Axtremus said in The impact of AI on jobs:

@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:

I am starting to worry about my son who will graduate from college in 6 years.

I tell youngsters to consider plumbing school as backup plan. I am thinking it will be much harder for AI to replace plumbers.

Are you telling your own kids that?

My son could survive off his inheritances I suppose. Especially given what AGI will do to the stock market.

[Horace]

I bet Ax does not choose that question to break his decades long seal against talking about personal stuff.

[Mik]

I think my daughter will be fine. AI can develop project plans, but it can't be a butt kicker, which every successful project manager is.

[89th]

Sorry to break it to you Mik:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ever-wish-there-was-a-machine-for-kicking-people-in-the-ass-well/

[Doctor Phibes]

If all the butts belong to robots, what better kicker than a machine?

[jon-nyc]

Best comment: Akshually its tensor maths of which vectors are just a special case

[Horace]

I wrote a description of something I was doing yesterday, to some coworkers. I pasted a paragraph of it into chatgpt, to see what sense it could make of it.

It understood it perfectly, gave perfectly reasonable advice. This is not advanced stuff, but the level of this conversation, based on my experience, will lose most people allegedly "skilled in the art", but now anybody can get accurate and clear headed explanations of technical stuff, in presumably most realms of human knowledge.

[Mik]

That's how I use it and it excels 90% of the time. It distills the subject down to what you really need to know.

[Axtremus]

See, plumbing school FTW!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-cant-install-an-hvac-system-why-gen-z-is-flocking-to-jobs-in-the-trades-171735856.html

[AndyD]

Back in 1980 when I read Sociology, we studied some Keynes, Schumacher. Reduced working hours, and 3 day working weeks appeared to be in my future.
Oh yeah, and flying cars for all were predicted.

It'll happen, eventually.

[taiwan_girl]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2025/08/07/microsoft-reveals-the-most-and-least-ai-safe-jobs-where-do-you-rank/

Most Vulnerable
Interpreters and Translators
Historians
Passenger Attendants
Sales Representatives of Services
Writers and Authors
Customer Service Representatives
CNC Tool Programmers
Telephone Operators
Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs

Least Vulnerable
Phlebotomists
Nursing Assistants
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
Helpers—Painters, Plasterers, etc.
Embalmers
Plant and System Operators, All Other
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers
Ship Engineers
Tire Repairers and Changers