- Andrew Yang warns millions of US white-collar jobs may vanish in 12 to 18 months due to AI
- AI can complete tasks in minutes that once took days, reducing the need for human workers
- Automation will affect mid-career office workers, marketers, coders, and call centre staff
Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur and former Democratic presidential candidate, has warned that millions of white-collar workers in the US could lose their jobs within the next 12 to 18 months due to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), Business Insider reported.
"Someone in my family had an AI program a website this week. It completed in minutes what used to take a designer or a firm days of work," Yang wrote. He further added that this kind of efficiency will come at the cost of jobs.
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Yang predicts that AI will automate tasks currently performed by mid-career office workers, call centre staff, marketers, coders and other professionals, leading to a "great disembowelling" of white-collar jobs.
"How many roles essentially consist of processing information and then presenting it to someone to make a decision? Now, not only the process and report will be automated, but perhaps the decision as well," Yang wrote. "This will result in the great disembowelling of white-collar jobs."
According to him, the automation wave will "kick millions of white-collar workers to the curb" in the coming months and "as one company starts to streamline, all of their competitors will follow suit."
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He further noted that this practise will become a competition because the "stock market will reward you if you cut headcount and punish you if you don't".
Yang estimates that 20-50% of the 70 million white-collar workers in the US could lose their jobs in the coming years, with AI tools able to handle tasks such as data analysis, report writing, coding and customer service, making many white-collar jobs redundant.
The job losses could lead to a decline in consumer spending, housing markets, and tax revenues, affecting local economies.
Yang advocates for measures such as universal basic income, retraining programs, and taxes on AI companies to mitigate the impact.
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