Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is warning that AI could end up causing a mass elimination of jobs in technology, finance, law, and consulting, among other professions, as well as wipe out half of all entry-level white collar jobs.
Amodei, who leads one of the world’s most powerful AI companies, told Axios that “most” lawmakers “are unaware that this is about to happen.”
The Anthropic CEO said AI companies and the government need to stop “sugar-coating” what will happen next, which he warns could be a mass erasure of jobs in a variety of fields, and the axing of half of all entry-level white collar jobs, which Amodei says will lead to a 10-20 percent spike in unemployment in the next one to five years.
“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” Amodei said. “I don’t think this is on people’s radar.”
“It’s a very strange set of dynamics, where we’re saying: ‘You should be worried about where the technology we’re building is going,’” the Anthropic CEO added, acknowledging that he is building the very technology he suspects will soon and swiftly transform society.
Amodei said that three situations are currently playing out in real time — and show no signs of changing — adding that this will result in the elimination of a slew of white-collar jobs:
First, large AI companies will continue growing their technology, getting it to a point where artificial intelligence meets or beats human capabilities. Second, the U.S. government will do nothing out of fear of losing to China or scaring American workers. Third, most of the public will remain unaware of AI’s ever-increasing power and its threat to their jobs.
Eventually, business leaders will see the savings associated with replacing humans with AI, and will implement this on a massive scale, the Anthropic CEO said, adding that he believes this will occur almost overnight, with the public only realizing the calamity when it’s too late.
Right now, AI tools are mainly used to help people do their jobs. But what the public doesn’t realize, Amodei says, is that AI will go from merely assisting people to actually doing their jobs in “as little as a couple of years or less.”
This reality already appears to be transpiring in certain fields.
“We’ve talked to scores of CEOs at companies of various sizes and across many industries,” Axios reported. “Every single one of them is working furiously to figure out when and how agents or other AI technology can displace human workers at scale.”
“The second these technologies can operate at a human efficacy level, which could be six months to several years from now, companies will shift from humans to machines,” the outlet added.
But the Anthropic CEO claims there are a few ways to prevent the worst scenarios from unfolding.
Amodei said “the first step is warn” the public that due to AI, some jobs are too vulnerable to rely on as a career path. Meanwhile, AI companies and the government should be more transparent and admit how the technology will soon be affecting the workforce, he added.
When it comes to his own company, Amodei appears to be practicing what he preaches, as the CEO has created an Anthropic Economic Index, which showcases actual data on the usage of his company’s language models across occupations.
Second, Amodei believes job loss can be slowed down by encouraging people to become more familiar with AI so they can use it to assist them with their jobs now, insisting that having a better understanding of the technology will at least give workers a shot at navigating the AI takeover when it hits.
Third, Amodei suggested lawmakers become more informed on the issue, advising the creation of a joint committee on AI or, at a minimum, hosting formal briefings for all lawmakers, even at the local level.
The Anthropic CEO said he would also like to see discussions on how policies can be implemented to help American workers if the U.S. economy becomes dominated by AI.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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