Klarna, Shopify, Duolingo and now Fiverr all made bold statements about how Ai is impacting their workforce.
But here's what's ACTUALLY happening with Ai and the labour market.
For the first time in history, a new technology is replacing knowledge work instead of manual labour.
Think of the tractor. 🚜
It replaced manual work in the fields previously done by farmers or animals.
Think of the personal computer. 💻
It replaced manual clerical work.
Go even further in the past, think of the industrial revolution. 🏭
Automated machines replaced individual craftsmen.
These technologies proved more cost efficient than manual labour.
Now Ai is more productive and cost efficient than even highly-skilled knowledge workers.
This is completely unprecedented!
The transition from manual labour to knowledge work allowed the west to become rich while working shorter hours.
Now Ai is taking over knowledge work.
Shall we go back to manual work then?
No, otherwise we'll become less productive and poorer.
So what to do?
Just prepare to become the best of the best at what you do,
so good that Ai will never beat you.
Like Micha Kaufman said,
"easy" is gone, "hard" is the new easy (taken over by Ai) and "impossible" is the new hard.
So prepare to do impossible things or Ai will definitely take your job.
Meanwhile, who owns the Ai and the few key knowledge workers left will MASSIVELY increase their productivity and wealth.
This is will create enormous inequalities.
But why using future tense.
This is happening as we speak.
Big tech companies are taking over larger chunks of the market leaving smaller space for competition, while laying off thousands of employees.
Those who remain earn 3 to 5 times more than what other companies are willing to pay.
Ai is just boosting this trend.
Any thoughts?
