AI could destroy 100M jobs, Bernie Sanders warns
Artificial intelligence (AI) must benefit all, not just the few, Senator Bernie Sanders has warned. He believes that tens of millions of jobs could be lost in the US within the next decade if nothing is done.
Automation will wipe out most of the jobs in fast food and customer service, with 89% and 83% of workers expected to be replaced, respectively, by artificial labor in the next decade, according to a new report released by Sen. Sanders (D-Vt.).
AI is likely to replace 65% of teaching assistants, 59% of cashiers, 53% of waiting staff, and 47% of truck drivers, as well as 40% of nurses, according to the report from Sanders, who is a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.
The data cited in the report is based, ironically, on calculations provided by ChatGPT, underscoring the point that white-collar professions are not immune to AI either, with 65% of accountants, 54% of software developers, and 47% of general managers expected to be replaced.
“Artificial labor could not only put millions of people out of work from their existing jobs. It could also replace new jobs that could have been created. A factory worker who loses their job cannot be told to learn to code if artificial labor also takes the coding job,” the report said.
Big corporations like Amazon, Walmart, and United HealthCare Group have already fired tens of thousands of workers as they push for automation – and do not plan to stop there, while companies like Salesforce are open about their goal to lower costs by embracing “digital labor.”
“The agricultural revolution unfolded over thousands of years. The industrial revolution took more than a century. Artificial labor could reshape the economy in less than a decade,” the report said.
As millions lose their jobs, those who keep theirs will be forced to accept lower wages as corporations will feel emboldened to take advantage of the workers, it warned.
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It said that accelerated efforts for automation pushed by big tech companies and President Donald Trump – who fears the US may fall behind China if it does not lead in AI – will only benefit billionaires.
To avoid that, Senate Democrats are calling for more regulation of the AI sector, as well as better worker protections, including a 32-hour work week with no loss in pay and a “robot tax” on large corporations.
Doubling down on his warning, Sanders said in an op-ed published by Fox News that billionaires like Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg are not investing billions in AI to improve the lives of the 60% of Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
They are doing so because they want to “increase their own wealth and power exponentially,” Sanders said.
“The result? The wealthiest people in the world will get even richer, while working people lose their jobs and their income,” he warned.
