Millions to Lose Job to AI in Three Years
The first whole job-category with 100s of thousands of employees will already lose their job to AI in 3 years:
“In three years I don’t think there’s going to be any human taking an order in any drive-through in the U.S.”
See this.
I just checked how many jobs we talk of. My AI tells me that IBIS World has reported 201,865 fast food restaurants in the USA. And 70% of their sales are from drive-through – and a chain like Wendy’s even reports 90% of their sales are from drive-through. See this.
We probably talk about 300,000 – 400,000 jobs being taken by AI – in US fast-food ordering alone.
Fortunately, in this case there is a lack of labor to fill in these positions, so the social effect will be relatively moderate here.
But the ordering of drive-through fast food is just a tiny corner of the US economy.
The broader effect will be millions and millions of US jobs – gone over the next only 3 years.
Jobs removed through automation are always replaced by new jobs – but that is over time.
Honestly, as an economist, I find it hard to believe that the US economy will be able to replace these millions and millions of jobs lost to AI as fast as these jobs will be wiped out.
What does that mean for the US competitive position in the World?
It will mean an enormous boost in US economic, tech, and military power – combined with an increase in the kind of US social fragility which resulted in Jan. 6.
*
Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Comments