Rethinking all aspects central to language, technology, and people here: mergingminds.substack.com
“AI leads to layoffs.” Be careful with who is saying that. One of the major concerns about AI across industries is that it will cause layoffs. That people will lose their jobs because AI will be able to do their work for cheaper. This may have been the case with some layoffs. And it will likely be the case with some future layoffs. But we do need to be skeptical when we hear this. Large layoffs have always come in waves as big companies respond to market forces and to their own pursuit of profit. And this has always brought them some negative attention. So imagine the relief now that these big companies can scapegoat their layoffs on AI, instead of admitting that the layoffs were to increase their bottom line for the benefit of shareholders? And, doesn’t it look good to those exact same shareholders to hear that the company is so “cutting edge” that their tech can already replace workers? My point is that there are two big reasons why a large corporation would blame layoffs on AI. Even if AI had little or nothing to do with it. It takes the blame off of them AND it looks good to their shareholders. I am not saying that there haven’t been layoffs due to AI. Or that there won’t be. I am just saying that the narrative and the truth are rarely the same thing. And that the narrative can be manipulated to benefit big players. What do you think?
Localization Advocate | Age Diversity Champion, Innovative Trainer, Community Builder | ex Pearson Education | LocLunch™ San Diego Ambassador
3moI agree it will be interesting to see how this all plays out, my thoughts: as usual the organizations who rush around to get AI implemented just for AI sake (and appease shareholders) are the ones who will ramp up and impose long hours on valuable assets of AI engineers etc., only to discard those assets in the end. Those Assets are people, who build in ability to compete, but ultimately are disposable. Gabriel Fairman