For years, we've read and heard warnings about robots taking our jobs, but the new threat to human jobs is even more advanced---artificial intelligence (AI). Last year, for the first time companies cited AI among their reasons for layoffs, according to the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Recent mass layoffs announced by Google parent company Alphabet, Amazon and UPS were all directly or indirectly tied to AI, with white collar jobs taking the biggest hit.
The Challenger, Gray & Christmas report lists the tech and media sectors as hardest hit by AI job losses so far, but with layoffs expected to continue across many industries this year, this could be just the start of a new trend. "There are going to be dramatic changes that accompany AI, and our institutions just aren't in the least bit prepared for it," says Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and former presidential candidate in an interview with Fox News.
The actual number of jobs lost to AI remains fairly low, but that is only because companies don't specifically list AI as the reason for many of the job cuts. Yang says we should have seen this coming. "When I was running for president in 2020, I was talking about job loss, which I'm still very concerned about," he tells Fox. "The IMF (International Monetary Fund) said that about 40 percent of global jobs could be affected (by AI)...that's hundreds of millions of workers around the world."
AI has become the elephant in the room that can no longer be ignored, and Yang predicts our leaders will eventually have to deal with this issue. "You can already see the effect right now in our politics, and it is just beginning," he says. "We are categorically not doing enough to prepare for AI's impact in the labor market."
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