From the start, there was no contention that AI replacing human labor at some point was inevitable. The only arguments that existed were how fast this replacement would come to be and the sorts of jobs that were replaceable, and those that weren’t. However, who knew it would come this fast? To make matters worse, it begins right at the door (In the tech industry).
According to the independent layoff tracker, Layoffs. Yi over 62,000 tech jobs have been lost as of May this year alone. Most of the losses are being attributed to AI. The biggest industry players are having a field day as they cut labor costs by investing in AI. Microsoft announced that it is cutting off around 7000 employees (Around 3%) of its workforce. Google downsized hundreds of positions in its platform and devices division just last month. IBM announced they were cutting around 8,000 jobs, while META announced around 3,600 in cuts. These are just a few.
While you may think only big players are feeling the heat, this could not be further from the truth. A report by a US-based research firm, Signal Fire, found that entry-level hiring by big tech companies had dropped by 50% in the last two years alone. In addition, the report indicates that even startups that often rely on hiring new college graduates due to constrained budgets are now scaling back.
It may seem all gloomy and doomy, but it is apparent that the Tech industry is only a start, as most of the other sectors will soon be affected. AI has shifted the workforce significantly and being the early days, no one is 100% sure to what extent that shift will go. Just like the advent of the internet back in the mid-90s, it’s hard to measure
The real effect of AI right now. All we know is that the globe is largely a capitalistic society, and most organizations are cutthroat businesses. They will do whatever it takes to cut costs and maximize profits, even if that means hurting livelihoods while in pursuit. Instead of panicking over the uncertainties we need to use our Natural intelligence,(which we used to come up with AI by the way) to create new jobs by adopting and integrating artificial intelligence into our new life. Change is always inevitable the sooner we accept this reality the easier it is to adopt.
