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The AI invasion has begun

AI is coming for YOU... well it's coming for your job.

Workers at Amazon and YouTube have discovered that they're on the frontline of this AI invasion as tens of thousands stand to lose their jobs in the coming weeks and months.

Although we've been told that AI is going to change the world for the better and give us all a higher quality of life for fewer hours of work, the reality is likely to be something altogether different. Those former Amazon and YouTube workers are about to discover this cold, hard, fact of life in the AI era.

Chances are that you may also discover this sobering truth yourself in the not too distant future.

AI is doing such a good job of replacing people that I fear it may be turn out to be the largest factor in creating social and economic disruption that we have ever seen.

The invention of the steem engine and the industrial revolution that it powered may seem pretty hard to trump but in reality AI has far more potential to displace people and concentrate wealth to a far smaller subset of the population.

Amazon announced it would cut 14,000 jobs earlier this week as the result of increased use of AI.

YouTube has announced voluntary redundancies tied to increased AI use within its ranks.

Doubtless we are going to see many, many more such layoffs and redundancies announced across the board as increasing numbers of businesses start cutting costs and hiking efficiencies by replacing wetware with AI-ware.

As I've said before in this column, it's not just the jobs you'd expect (such as clerical positions) which are being annexed by AI. It's also those which, just a decade or so ago would have seemed impossible for a computer to perform -- such as creative roles in generating music, art, video etc.

What's more, with the incredibly fast pace of development in robotics, even low-skill labour-intensive roles such as cleaning, warehouse fulfillment and similar, are now under threat.

On the face of it, this may seem great. More efficiency, lower costs, faster operation -- these are things that can improve the bottom line of any business and that can also result in a lower cost to the consumer.

However, with increasing numbers of people being displaced from employment, how will any of them be able to afford the products and services that AI will be making cheaper?

We are told that AI will create new jobs... but I don't see them. Even AI companies themselves are now shedding developers and programmers, having found that they're less productive than simply harnessing the power of their own AI creations to do the same jobs.

With the cost of living rising at an ever-increasing rate around the world and with many folk finding it increasingly difficult just to feed their families while they still have a job, I shudder to think just how quickly this situation could degrade into one of complete melt-down when we start seeing more and more layoffs due to AI.

Nobody in positions of authority and control seem to be planning for this dystopian future but instead they appear only to see the potential that is AI. The glister of profits and cashflows seem to have blinded people to the darkness of massive unemployment and the social unrest that this will create.

Forget about the speculations that armies of AI-powered robots will rise up against humankind and wipe us out. No, they'll simply take our jobs and create a two tiered society where those who profit from AI will become filthy-rich and rule over those who are displaced by it and live in poverty.

Or I could be wrong, let's hope I am.

Carpe Diem folks!

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