Artificial intelligence is already being used in about 60% of global jobs, according to a report from Business Insider.
As these tools take over tasks people once did themselves, expert investor Howard Marks said in a memo that the deeper issue with these changes arises when work opportunities begin to disappear along with daily structure and a level of community contribution, according to BI.
What's happening?
Marks, a co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, said he finds the future of employment in the age of AI a major concern, as per the report.
"I find the resulting outlook for employment terrifying. I am enormously concerned about what will happen to the people whose jobs AI renders unnecessary, or who can't find jobs because of it," Marks wrote in one of his blog posts.
Marks has published investing memos for more than 35 years and has even experimented with using AI tools to assist his own writing. Yet, he still said proposals such as universal basic income by Elon Musk and other tech leaders do not address the larger emotional and social effects of job loss and that employment provides us with daily structure, a sense of contribution, and self-respect. Marks worries about a scenario where people receive government payments but lack meaningful roles or connections within their communities.
The "godfather of AI," Geoffrey Hinton, has said that the jobs most at risk are the more mundane roles that don't require physicality.
"So, a good bet would be to be a plumber," Hinton added.
Why is the AI boom a concern?
The data says that the scope of damage caused by automation is real. An International Monetary Fund analysis published in 2024 found that roughly 60% in advanced economies already use AI, with half of those roles facing reduced labor demand or wage pressure, according to BI.
Additionally, in direct connection to the role work plays in people's lives, technology advisor Kate O'Neill said in a TED Talk, as cited by BI, that AI weakens our ability to create meaning from lived experience.
The growth of AI has been tied to rising energy and resource use, as training and running large-scale AI models require data centers that use significant amounts of water and produce e-waste. They are also a strain financially. Major tech companies are spending more than ever on AI at a pace that hasn't been seen during a tech boom in 30 years, according to industry expert Jim Covello.
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Marks said the challenge now is figuring out how societies will adapt socially and emotionally if paid work declines.
Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI's chief economist, told BI that he will be teaching his children the importance of critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and flexibility to prepare them for a potentially rapidly changing job market. Tech leaders like Musk say that young people need to start developing skills that AI won't be able to easily mimic.
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