Economists are coming around to the idea that AI really is killing jobs

As with most technological revolutions, some jobs will be lost, and many more will be created. The invention of the automobile killed the horse and buggy profession, but it created car manufacturing, road construction, petroleum, motels, long haul trucking, etc. There is potential for AI to enable people to do jobs they could not do before. There are millions of people who could say this sentence: I would love to do X job but it requires Y skill that I don't have, so I do Z job instead. AI is quickly allowing everyone to do Y skill, so it is unlocking a lot of X jobs for people currently stuck doing Z jobs (or no job).

I'm old enough to remember similar talk of the internet destroying jobs. Phone information operators will be out of business because websites can give you better info, faster. Print media would disappear. Travel agents and realtors would be replaced by websites. Some of that happened, but many jobs were created. Web developers, cybersecurity, content creators, and hundreds more jobs that no one dreamed of now exist because of the internet.

So, you know not to blindly trust "experts" ... right? Case in point: this is not an unbiased group of economists!

"Anton Korinek, a University of Virginia professor currently embedded with Anthropic, framed the urgency in historical terms: "Steam, electricity, and computers each gave societies decades to adapt; AI may give us only a few years." ..."

"... Industry representation on the signatory list is notable, with Reuters reporting that it includes Sarah Friar, who serves as OpenAI's finance chief, Jeff Dean of Google $GOOGL -1.31% DeepMind, and Jack Clark, one of Anthropic's founding figures."

In other words, these are people from an industry that has a strong financial interest in selling the idea that their products are world-changing. But, if you blindly accept the word of anyone trying to make a buck off you, without thinking critically ... well, OP you really need to contact me offline about this great bridge I have for sale ...

Source: https://www.wemustactnow.ai/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48894640)