The AI Job Apocalypse Is Always Nigh for the People Selling the Predictions

Reflections on Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's "white-collar bloodbath"

As I write, highly civilized human beings entrusted with the fate of humanity are warning me: “This AI thing we are building and selling will take your job.” I'm supposed to be thankful for the heads up. Instead, rude and inconvenient, I write down: “Then stop.”

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen interviewed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about AI’s effect on the workforce in an article gruesomely entitled “A white-collar bloodbath”:

AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs—and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.

Amodei said AI companies and government need to stop ‘sugar-coating’ what's coming: the possible mass elimination of jobs across technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, especially entry-level gigs. . . .

“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming," Amodei told us. "I don't think this is on people's radar.”

As “producers of this technology,” you have a duty and an obligation to avoid or at least compensate for the damage you think you’re about to inflict on society. Telling me you're going to kill me is of little comfort.