Artificial intelligence disruption continues to effect industries across the globe. Amid this, former Meta and Salesforce AI executive Clara Shih has warned, claiming that AI can potentially cause job loss all across America while also affecting their sense of purpose, identity and even belonging.
Ex-Meta, Salesforce lead warn against job displacement due to AI
Talking to 60 Minutes in an interview, Shih opened up about the wider social and psychological consequences of job displacement caused by AI. She predicted three emerging categories for employees going forward. It includes workers who build AI, workers who utilise AI, and those who would be managed by AI.
“When I sit down with friends of mine who have been laid off, and or who just graduated from school and have been searching for a year or more, usually money is the second thing that they bring up,” said Shih.
“The first thing that they talk about is how they no longer feel useful to their families, to their communities. And that’s very psychologically damaging,” she added.
In comparison to the manufacturing decline that selectively impacted industrial hubs throughout the American Rust Belt, the coming wave of AI automation threatens to affect a vastly wider geographic landscape.
AI to effect every community in America
Shih cited examples of Akron and Cleveland as communities which were affected by the economic consequences of globalisation. Though international trade and globalisation caused growth and benefited consumers, the gains were unequal, as some workers and communities struggled to adapt.
She said, “The manufacturing shock, as devastating as it was for the Rust Belt, it was limited to the Rust Belt. What AI is doing to knowledge work affects pretty much every community in America, and it’s happening at a much faster, on a much faster timeline.”
According to Shih, the perks of AI may remain far from the reach of workers and communities equally. “AI was so much more capable just right out of the gate than a lot of people that we could hire out of school. And so we changed our hiring,” she explained.
Furthermore, Shih advised governments, businesses and nonprofit organisations to come together and help people who remain affected by the AI.
Clara Shih who is said to be concerned about the impact of AI on jobs, founded the New Work Foundation.
According to the official website, the non-profit organisation offers ‘a free platform providing new grads with the tools, community, mentorship, and intelligence needed to build lasting careers in the AI economy.’
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