You can’t imagine it: the The pressure on AI jobs is not a future apocalypse, it is already quietly underway.
Professor Yoshua Bengio spent four decades developing the technology that is now available to you. He is a professor of computer science at the University of Montreal, a Turing Prize winner, and one of the world’s most cited scientists in the field of computer science. Google Scholar – and now he’s turning his back on his life’s work to warn you that your job is probably already in jeopardy.
Office jobs, or as Bengio called them, “cognitive jobs, jobs that you can do behind a keyboard,” will be the first casualties of automation.
“It’s only a matter of time,” the AI pioneer emphasized in Steven Bartlett’s message. Diary of a CEO podcast.
“Unless we hit a wall scientifically, like there’s an obstacle preventing us from making progress in making AIs smarter and smarter, there’s going to be a point where they’re doing more and more, able to do more and more of the work that people do… And then, of course, it’s going to take years for companies to really integrate that into their workflows, but they’re eager to do it. So it’s more a question of time than whether it’s happening or not?”
And he admitted that it was New Generation Z recruits who are currently hardest hit by AI, because junior positions are the easiest to eliminate, consolidate or fill with software – but ultimately, everyone’s jobs will be affected within five years.
It’s not just office jobs that are at risk; even business jobs and democracy itself are under threat
For years, degrees have been seen as the key to success for young and ambitious people looking to land stable, well-paying jobs. But now even the most educated students find themselves “unemployable” as employers launch a “wait and see strategy” amid AI. UK graduates face the worst job market since 2018. And companies like Intel, IBMAnd Google have frozen thousands of potential new roles for AI to take on over the next five years.
But this is not just an incident or a reflection of the current economy, Bengio warned. As more companies rely on AI and eventually robots, the technology will only get smarter, he said.
“As companies deploy more and more robots, they will collect more and more data. So it will happen eventually,” Bengio said when asked if AI would be capable of wiping out humanity. all work. Even young people trying to outsmart automation by dropping their degrees or upgrading their skills trade jobs are doomed to the same impasse.
“So if you do physical work, like Geoffrey Hinton » often said, you should be a plumber or something – it’s going to take longer (for AI to replace your job), but I think it’s just a temporary thing.
Now, aware of the havoc AI could wreak, Bengio said he regrets his life’s work.
“I should have predicted this much earlier, but I didn’t pay much attention to the potentially catastrophic risks,” the 61-year-old admitted. “But my turning point was when ChatGPT came along, and also with my grandson, I realized that it’s not sure if he’ll have a life in 20 years, because we’re starting to see AI systems that are resistant to shutdown.”
He has since founded LawZero, a nonprofit focused on creating safe, human-friendly AI systems. But at the current pace of change, his warning is clear: It’s not just about jobs, but even democracy could collapse in just two decades.
His message for CEOs? “Take a step back from your work. Talk to us and let’s see if together we can solve the problem. Because if we’re stuck in this competition, we’re going to take huge risks that are not good for you or your children.”