The relentless pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by tech giants is setting the stage for a potential seismic shift in the global job market. AGI, defined as technology matching or surpassing human cognitive abilities, is a goal some industry leaders, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, believe could be realized as early as this year. However, amidst this optimism, a stark warning emerges from AI experts: unchecked development could lead to catastrophic societal and economic consequences.
The Unsettling Race to AGI
Tristan Harris, a former Google ethicist and prominent AI expert, articulated these concerns during his appearance on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast. Harris highlighted that the industry’s aggressive timeline, with many anticipating human-level AI by 2027, fosters a “competitive logic” that prioritizes speed over safety, security, and human well-being. This mad dash, he argues, incentivizes shortcuts, leading to a disregard for job disruption and the broader economic impact on ordinary citizens.
“It’s a kind of competitive logic that self-reinforces itself,” Harris explained. “It forces everyone to be incentivized to take the most shortcuts, to care the least about safety or security, to not care about how many jobs get disrupted, to not care about the well-being of regular people.”
Regulation: A Retreat in the Face of Progress?
The current regulatory landscape for AI companies is notably sparse. In a controversial move, President Donald Trump, on the first day of his second term, rolled back Biden-era AI regulations designed to ensure safe implementation and support workers. Furthermore, a December executive order by Trump aimed to preempt a patchwork of state laws, citing concerns that such regulations could “stymie innovation.” Harris vehemently contends that this unfettered growth serves corporate interests, not the average American’s.
“The default path is not in [the people’s] interest,” Harris asserted. “The default path is companies racing to release the most powerful, inscrutable, uncontrollable technology we’ve ever invented with the maximum incentive to cut corners on safety.”
AI: A Greater Threat to Jobs Than Immigration or NAFTA?
Perhaps Harris’s most alarming prediction concerns AI’s impending impact on employment. He posits that advanced AI, capable of performing human tasks for free, represents a far greater threat to jobs than immigration. He vividly describes AI as “a flood of millions of new digital immigrants that are Nobel Prize–level capability, work at superhuman speed, and will work for less than minimum wage.”
Early data already supports these concerns. A Stanford University study revealed a 13% decline in jobs for early-career workers due to AI. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas projects approximately 55,000 AI-related layoffs by 2025. Tech giants like Microsoft and Salesforce have already initiated significant job cuts, explicitly citing AI implementation as a driving factor.
Harris draws a parallel to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which critics argued displaced American manufacturing jobs. He labels AI as “NAFTA 2.0,” but with a crucial difference:
“Except instead of China appearing on the world stage who will do the manufacturing labor for cheap, suddenly this country of geniuses in a data center created by AI appears on the world stage, and it will do all of the cognitive labor in the economy for less than minimum wage.”
The Brewing Backlash and the Future of Human Power
Harris foresees that this unregulated AI expansion will inevitably lead to a “massive political backlash” as the public recognizes its overarching societal implications. Despite federal deregulation, 26 states have already moved to enact their own AI legislation, with New York and California proposing stringent requirements for safety and data transparency.
The urgency for regulation, Harris warns, is paramount. As AI increasingly automates jobs, the economic value of human labor diminishes, potentially eroding human political power. He paints a grim picture of a future where states, deriving GDP primarily from AI companies, might no longer “need humans anymore,” rendering the human political class “the useless class.”
The debate around AI’s trajectory is far from over. As technology accelerates, the call for thoughtful regulation and a re-evaluation of societal priorities grows louder, urging a collective effort to shape a future where innovation serves humanity, rather than displaces it.
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