How to stop a robot from taking your job
Starship Capital managing partner John Meyer discusses how artificial intelligence will price people out of the market.
Could artificial intelligence (AI) take your job away?
Tech adviser and investor John Meyer said, for a lot of workers, it’s already happening and many people don’t even realize it.
"There’s a monumental societal change happening really right under our nose here,” Meyer, who is also a managing partner at Starship Capital, told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria." “You see huge efforts in AI happening that’s already affecting the population."
Meyer notes the use of AI in the workforce is expanding to more industries.
“I think it started for sure in manufacturing," Meyer said. "Now we’re about to see it in trucking and vehicle driving in the next five years, tops. I think this is where we’re going to see the most societal change in just jobs lost.”
"It will not make economical sense for companies to keep employing these people once the AI gets good enough over the next few years."
Cabot Phillips, the editor-in-chief of the conservative college news site Campusreform.org, pointed out that the fear about jobs being lost to AI among voters is already having an impact on the upcoming presidential campaign.
"This is now becoming a 2020 political issue," Phillips said. "In campaigns past, this was such a niche issue, but I think voters are starting to see this as a real concern."
Phillips pointed to comments by the one tech entrepreneur currently in the Democratic race.
"Andrew Yang and other candidates in 2020 are openly saying automation is going to be one of the biggest things impacting our economy,” Meyer said.
"This is not some niche issue that’s only impacting people in certain fields."
Mitch Roschelle, a partner at PwC, said America has seen technology change the workplace before, but AI is a different kind of animal.
“Think about the office pool secretaries of the ‘50s using carbon papers that were replaced by photocopiers," Roschelle said. "That’s a similar shift. But here these are jobs that are going away that may never be replaced.”
So how should workers prepare for the growing AI impact? Meyer has this advice.
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“One of the best things employees can be doing right now, especially if you’re in a high-risk position like an Uber or Lyft driver, look for a highly-skilled job that can’t be disrupted," Meyer said.