"Economic uncertainty is continuing to have devastating effects on the availability of jobs. Last year, the US labor market reeled from slowing wages, layoffs, and a notable lack of hiring, leading to the highest unemployment rate in the country in four years toward the end of 2025. And while debate swirls about whether AI is actually replacing jobs in any serious numbers, many tech startups are trying to make it a reality."
"It's a depressing new reality as concerns over AI replacing jobs en masse continue to grow. Late last year, computer scientist and AI "godfather" Geoffrey Hinton predicted that AI would continue to "replace many, many jobs" in 2026 as the tech "gets even better." An MIT study also found last year that more than 20 million Americans' work can be replaced with today's AI, representing $1.2 trillion in wage value."
"Paying those who are already struggling to find work in a disastrous job market to train their future replacements is a twisted new reality in the age of AI, leading to plenty of dark humor. "I joked with my friends I'm training AI to take my job someday," 30-year-old video editor Katie Williams, who has been captioning and rating video clips for Mercor for six months, told the WSJ."
Economic uncertainty continues to reduce job availability, with slowing wages, layoffs, and weak hiring causing the highest US unemployment rate in four years toward the end of 2025. Tech startups are recruiting unemployed and underemployed people to label, caption, and critique content to train AI systems that aim to automate those same roles. Geoffrey Hinton predicted AI will replace many jobs in 2026, and an MIT study estimated more than 20 million American jobs—about $1.2 trillion in wages—are replaceable with today's AI. Some workers accept paid tasks to survive, even while acknowledging the irony and long-term risks.
Read at Futurism
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]