Will AI Lead to Mass Unemployment?

Listen to the CEO of @Anthropic highlight what I’ve said for a long time. AI will lead to 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (up to 50% of entry-level white-collar work in next 5 years) and sharply rising inequality unless policy and regulation quickly steps in.

The shift is happening much faster than technological changes of the past, leaving most workers unable to adapt. At the same time, as a very small number of AI companies reap the ultimate rewards, the social contract of our democracies is breaking down.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬 – whilst the tax base is eroding from mass unemployment?

Universal Basic Income (UBI) may sound like a beautiful vision, but remains a far-fetched dream unless policymakers are able to introduce strict taxation on the #AI companies themselves.

Credit to Dario for saying this out loud – the question is, are we already too late?

• “There’s an inherent social contract in, in, in democracy where ultimately, you know, the ordinary person has a certain amount of leverage because they’re contributing to the economy.“
• “If that leverage goes away, then it’s harder to make democracy work, and it’s harder to prevent concentration of power. And so, we need to make sure that the ordinary person maintains economic leverage and has a way to make a living or our society, our social contract may break.”

• “We may need to levy taxes on AI companies. If I create huge total wealth, you know, a lot about will by default go to the AI companies and, you know, less to ordinary people.”
• “It’s definitely not in my economic interest to say that, but I think, I think this is something we should consider. And I think it shouldn’t be a partisan thing.“