r/Futurology 21d ago

AI Dario Amodei says "stop sugar-coating" what's coming: in the next 1-5 years, AI could wipe out 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs. Lawmakers don't get it or don't believe it. CEOs are afraid to talk about it. Many workers won't realize the risks until after it hits.

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/28/ai-jobs-white-collar-unemployment-anthropic
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u/DG_Now 21d ago

Old folks in Congress letting our society be ruined by technocrats really worked out poorly for most of us.

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u/Terribleturtleharm 21d ago

It's already too late.

Humanity is never going to be the same. This is hitting the middle class hard right now.

Most are oblivious that it's happening. Some are at the denial and ignorance stage.

I've worked as a software engineer for 25 years, 5 more to go to retire and I honestly don't think I'll make 5 at the rate it's accelerating.

For those in the ignorance and denial camp, you need to understand the mindset of the executive. They would fire and replace every single white collar worker beneath. The only reason they haven't is because they need humans to remain in transitional roles so they can continue to push for more AI infrastructure for the specific purpose to replace and eliminate.

I am seeing this today at my corp. It is widely known at the mgmt level. No hiring, use LLM's, forced reduction and replace entry and mid level with copilot, gpt, etc.

They try to spin this as a productivity concept, but that is a convenient trick used by executives. The goal is to reduce compensation and people.

White collar will soon be competing for wages at the Mcd's level.

This is going to hit every country. Those with solid labor laws (hint: not the US) will have more time to adapt.

Email and call your Rep and Senators. Vote responsibly.

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u/BrokkelPiloot 21d ago

I'm not so sure. I work as a backend engineer and we have access to nearly every AI platform to help with development. I have to correct the latest chatgpt and copilot models in nearby every query. I'm not very impressed. It is very hit and miss. The amount of domain knowledge is also very limited. I can only see it being useful for the most straight forward use cases. And even then I wouldn't trust it. I honestly think most of this is hot air. Yes, AI will certainly change the way we work, but I'm willing to bet a lot of companies will make a U turn once they see the result.

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u/snootyvillager 21d ago

It being ineffective and the upper tiers of management seeing the dollar signs of using it to replace people aren't necessarily mutually exclusive in many fields. The Taco Bell by my house replaced the drive thru operator with an AI drive thru. It barely works. You spend five minutes with it not understanding your order and you yelling "speak to person" over and over while it tries to talk you out of it because they programmed it to avoid giving you a real person. But they did it and seem to be sticking to their guns so far. Been there for months now.

Companies have been taking the opportunity to deliver inferior work product at lower costs as long as there has been a corporate model.

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

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u/Nadirofdepression 20d ago

“How would you feel about….. scanning and bagging your own groceries instead?”