It’s getting harder for young people to land their first job in the age of AI. The unemployment rate for new college graduates has reached its highest level in over a decade (excluding the pandemic). There is a brutal catch-22: employers demand experience to hire, but the recent graduates can’t land the entry-level roles to start their careers. Young people in AI-exposed careers are having the toughest time finding work. Right now, fields like customer service and software engineering are being hit the hardest, but more and more industries are implementing AI into their workforce.
As the already-difficult job market becomes worse, the CEOs of top AI companies are openly acknowledging that their goal is to replace more workers. Open AI CEO Sam Altman, for instance, recently admitted that AI developments may lead to “whole classes of jobs going away.” As AI accelerates, retraining into new fields will become harder, not easier. Training costs time and money, and many workers have families, debt, and caregiving responsibilities that make the idea of “just retraining” unrealistic. Yes, some argue AI will create new roles to replace those it destroys, but as one ex-Google executive put it, the idea that AI will create enough new jobs is “100% crap”.
What gets lost in tech companies’ shiny AI demos is the fallout for everyday Americans. An AI “product launch” somewhere may mean layoffs elsewhere. Work teams that felt like second families could disband. Students may wonder if their major still matters. People aren’t afraid of new tools — they just don’t want AI to replace their livelihoods and upend their lives without having a say in the matter. When change arrives without consent or fairness, trust erodes. It frays the bonds of neighborhoods and workplaces. Progress that leaves people feeling disposable doesn’t feel like progress at all. It feels like being pushed out of your own future.
Tech CEOs like Sam Altman promise a utopia where AI creates enormous amounts of wealth, but we have no guarantee that this vision will come true for everyone. In “Moore’s Law for Everything,” Sam Altman imagines a world where AI generates so much wealth that no one needs to work, and the government redistributes the gains. Many workers have already lost their jobs to AI, and we have no framework to welcome the utopia the Sam Altman’s of the world promise. If AI prosperity is the goal, we need a serious roadmap for emergent technology rather than racing ahead with technology that could massively replace workers.
What does this mean for dignified work? What does this mean for our purpose as humans? As Americans, we must decide what kind of future we truly want.
Silicon Valley’s vision of a future without jobs is not something that Americans want. People find meaning and social connections through their careers and do not want to have their role replaced by AI. Even if the government finds a way to compensate those who lose their jobs to AI, receiving a check from the government is a cold comfort compared to losing one’s livelihood. Jobs are so much more than a way to make money, and replacing entire forms of work would have a devastating effect on our nation’s social fabric.
It’s not too late to change course. A majority of Americans across both political parties are concerned that AI won’t be regulated enough. In a divided America, a majority of us can agree that we need more accountability for AI companies. Congress needs to listen to the people and enact sensible safeguards to protect Americans from unchecked AI development.