I also spoke with a former employee of 18F, the federal tech support agency gutted by DOGE. He discussed how DOGE used its "AI-first strategy" and the hype around genAI in Silicon Valley to help justify their job-killing program. *This* is the AI jobs crisis—not any far-off robot apocalypse. - ThreadSky

bcmerchant.bsky.social • 32 days ago

I also spoke with a former employee of 18F, the federal tech support agency gutted by DOGE.

He discussed how DOGE used its "AI-first strategy" and the hype around genAI in Silicon Valley to help justify their job-killing program.

*This* is the AI jobs crisis—not any far-off robot apocalypse.

Comments

paultopping.bsky.social•32 days ago

The robots would be much less cruel.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•32 days ago

The AI jobs crisis is not the sudden displacement of millions of workers in one fell swoop—instead, it’s evident in the attrition in creative industries, the declining income of freelance artists, writers, and illustrators, and in corporations’ inclination to simply hire fewer human workers.

ericmoorephoto.bsky.social•31 days ago

I deleted all my Adobe apps just yesterday for this very reason. I was a Photoshop user going back to v1.0. Never again. They are trying to undermine the people that made them.

penneyk.bsky.social•31 days ago

I've noticed in the past year that there is a huge shift of AI replacing customer service. I was in shock the other day when I was connected to a human being within seconds of calling for assistance. I made sure to tell them how much I appreciated talking to a human being with a real brain!

rczavala.bsky.social•29 days ago

Went thru a drive thru the other day and an AI took my order, first encounter. Was the first fast food joint that I had gone to years ago that had self-order menu kiosks too. As soon as the robot arms and hands are ready, they’re making the tacos & burgers. Human employees will be reduced. 🌮🍔🤖

bcmerchant.bsky.social•32 days ago

The Atlantic's @dkthomp.bsky.social wrote about a worrying trend in the economic data—the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is unusually high. One theory: Firms are hiring fewer grads into white collar jobs, and using more AI.

*This* is what an AI jobs crisis might look like.

cranberryhorn.bsky.social•32 days ago

Not to mention Trump always inflated jobs reports in his first term. They would quietly be fixed a few months later. Now, he has all loyal liars working for him so we will never know except by finding other ways to count jobs gained and jobs lost.

thehillshaveayes.bsky.social•32 days ago

Shit

clueneeder.bsky.social•32 days ago

Yeah, anecdotally, internships are the new fresh CS grad job.

mustache-era.bsky.social•32 days ago

This makes no sense. Maybe eventually AI agents be full-fledged colleagues, but they obviously can’t now (my company has access to the premium models, which I use regularly). If anything, having access to tools like copilot which can help educated new hires in certain tasks makes them more valuable

davidpham5.bsky.social•31 days ago

I’ve been saying to my boss that why would tech companies hire 3 software engineers when then can hire a single senior engineer. That one engineer is expected to do the job of two other junior engineers because there is an expectation to lean on AI do to their job.

davidpham5.bsky.social•31 days ago

That has a knock on effect when we see a glut of workers like devs looking for jobs and college graduates also competing in the job market. How are they going to enter their first job, move up to senior or more and build a network of colleagues? The Ai crisis is here.

loreandordure.com•30 days ago

Except it started around 2012?

kooshpacker.bsky.social•30 days ago

Exactly lololol, a 13 year old trend

rekmarks.com•30 days ago

Exactly. AI can't possible explain a trend that started before 2015, or even 2022.

rekmarks.com•30 days ago

It may exacerbate that trend now, but we won't be able to suss out the impact for another few years probably.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•30 days ago

a) that’s just one part of a long thread containing many points

b) AI replacing jobs was absolutely a major point of contention in the 2010s! Here’s a major, headline-generating (and trend setting) paper written about AI job loss in 2013

https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment

rekmarks.com•30 days ago

I don't dispute that people were thinking about this, but "AI" in today's parlance means "LLMs", and LLMs were in no state to replace a single job for most of the period of this trend. 1/2

guerric.bsky.social•31 days ago

That looks like a steady downward trend since... 2013?

Not saying you're wrong, but the graph itself seems to be telling a bigger story.

bmcchgo.bsky.social•31 days ago

Please describe to me in detail how AI can execute a white collar, entry level job. I call BS. The media has swallowed whole the VC fever dream of AI’s dominance

bcmerchant.bsky.social•31 days ago

Read the article! It is bs!

kyleor.land•32 days ago

Just eyeballing the graph, looks like the decline started way before AI got big?

whodiddoneit.bsky.social•32 days ago

LLM been around a bit now, no?

kyleor.land•32 days ago

Yeah but not since 2010

whodiddoneit.bsky.social•32 days ago

Right right.

olejastrau.bsky.social•32 days ago

Yeah. It seems to coincide with real interest rate rises post pandemic.

sraars.comrades.social•32 days ago

Feels like it’s also timed with the “we need 5 years experience for this entry level job” trend.

musings-sometimes.bsky.social•32 days ago

Not AI fam. College grad % growth of the labor force has far outstripped hiring at that level.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•32 days ago

We’re at a crossroads where we must consider nothing less than what kind of work we want people to be able to do, and what we’re willing to do to protect those jobs—before the logic of generative AI and the crisis it has begotten guts them to the bone, or devours them altogether.

gloriasin.bsky.social•31 days ago

I also worry about students relying on AI too early, to the point where they become unemployable once they hit the job market.

ritzytritzy.bsky.social•30 days ago

As someone currently getting a degree in economics (i thought it was more stable than an art degree lmfao), I am shocked at the amount of students I've seen use chatgpt on their assignments, it gets it wrong, and they ask it again instead of answering a simple multiple choice question

gloriasin.bsky.social•30 days ago

People think it's a know-it-all, but it's more like tarot cards.

eschaton-avoidance.bsky.social•29 days ago

how do you have a job that involves reading graphs?

beleniak.bsky.social•30 days ago

AI has potential. But of course it is replacing us worrysome human types.

anem.bsky.social•30 days ago

It has potential in the way a lottery ticket has potential. Companies are gambling on the possibility of a seismic shift in the tech that significantly lowers costs and significantly increases quality and a similar shift in the legal system that would allow them to avoid liability for their system.

beleniak.bsky.social•30 days ago

Sucks to be us though.

tanyashklyarov.bsky.social•31 days ago

Ai SUCKS - is anyone knows if they have tried to use it‼️ unreliable, does not perceive context or any subtle teas and absolutely fails to think or pretend to think‼️‼️🤬

javaid89.bsky.social•30 days ago

Yes! Basically this is going to increase the collective fire under every employee's ass and make their life miserable. So even if you are "gainfully employed" at a slightly less easily automatable job there is now a target on your back. Bossware is going to get so much worse!

javaid89.bsky.social•30 days ago

Tech founders and VCs are already talking about automating scientists, engineers, whatever: they just don't have enough "thought traces" etc etc. If I said this 10 years ago I would have been committed to an institution. So all of this is going to felt EVERYWHERE.

nickw-w.bsky.social•32 days ago

I was instructed today that editors are just not affordable today and that only AI can do the job. Odd that there have been editors for - what - 600 or so years?

shipperxphile.bsky.social•32 days ago

Venture capitalist mentality is ruining the world

miasmo.bsky.social•32 days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1BdQcJ2ZYY

daviddecolonizer.bsky.social•32 days ago

The Lost Boys need to be put in a major time out. Never should have let these Neverland Cosplayers steer the ship of state. Talk about the blind leading the blind!

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