There of course is a debate of cataclysmic consequences relative to artificial intelligence and jobs.
On one-side are the optimists who generally acknowledge AI will replace many jobs, but who argue that there will likely be as many or more new positions created at the same time. A number of tech titans are represented in this group.
The pessimists – and you can include me in those ranks – predict massive layoffs over time, with a massive if unpredictable impact not only on jobs but on society as a whole.
Gilmore Says.... |
 |
| "Rich people are going to use AI to replace workers," he says, adding that. “It's going to create massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits. |
 |
What do you say? |
|
| Click here to send us your comments |
| |
|
|
|
So I was keenly interested in an interview about a week ago from the UK’s Financial Times (the Wall Street Journal of London) on the matter with Geoffrey Hinton.
Who is Geoffrey Hinton, you ask?
Hinton is a Nobel Prize-winning tech pioneer often referred to as the "Godfather of AI.”
As reported in Forbes on-line, Hinton is heavily in the pessimistic camp.
In the interview, Hinton challenged the optimistic visions promoted by Silicon Valley leaders, suggesting that much of the positive narrative about AI’s societal benefits is, at best, misleading.
Tech CEOs, he said, are "deluding themselves and others" when they say AI will benefit the majority of workers. In Hinton's view, the economic dynamic is straightforward: AI will be deployed as a cost-cutting mechanism, accelerating productivity while replacing human labor on a massive scale.
"Rich people are going to use AI to replace workers," he says, adding that. “It's going to create massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits. It will make a few people much richer and most people poorer.”
This from a man who played perhaps the most important role in the rise of AI through his work in creating what are called neural networks.
“This impact, Hinton explains, is not an inherent failure of AI itself but of the capitalist system that directs the monetizations of innovations,” the Forbes piece states, adding that “When companies are economically rewarded for scaling back a human labor in favor of machines, then the logical outcome is widespread job displacement—not shared prosperity.”
I will note that historically there have been Cassandras with similar warnings about other technologies that in the end did wind up spurring job creation.
 But to me and many others, there is something different about AI, especially the newer Generative AI (capable of producing content) and Agentic AI (capable of executing entire processes).
Hinton, who left Google in 2023 after years with its Brain Team, has spent much of the past two years offering increasingly urgent predictions about what AI’s rise will mean for society, Forbes said.
“While he provided no specific timeline for when large-scale unemployment might unfold, he acknowledged a grim reality: it has already begun in pockets of the economy. Layoffs directly tied to automation are mounting, although the financial rewards corporations seek have not yet fully materialized,” Forbes notes.
What to do?
One proposed remedy from AI boosters, such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman, is a universal basic income. UBI could serve as a social safety net, softening the blow for displaced workers.
But I think this is nonsense. Most stuff I have seen on UBI envision something like $1000 per month – poverty levels.
In the interview, Hinton dismissed UBI as an incomplete solution. While money may offset economic losses, he said, it does little for what truly defines human existence: work, meaning, and dignity. Stripping millions of their professions risks leaving entire communities adrift - a problem UBI cannot solve.
Then Hinton discusses something that is new to me: superintelligent AI.
According to him, many of the field's leading scientists agree that when, not if, machines surpass human intelligence, the window is measured in decades, not centuries. "A lot of scientists agree between five and 20 years," Hinton explained. “That's the best bet.”
What then, the rise of the machines?
“A machine capable of outthinking humanity on every level raises profound questions about control, safety, and governance. For Hinton and others, this is less a hypothetical scenario than an approaching reality for which societies remain unprepared,” Forbes writes.
I realize all this is a bit tangential to supply chain, but in my view highly relevant, nonetheless.
When the God Father of AI is worried, so am I.
What do you think of AI and jobs? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button (email) or section below.
Your Comments/Feedback
|
