"The message from investors to the software, wealth management, legal services and logistics industries this month has been clear: AI is coming for your business. The release of new, ever more powerful AI tools has coincided with a stock market slide, which has swept up sectors as diverse as drug distribution, commercial property and price comparison sites. Advances in the technology are giving increasing credulity to predictions that it could render millions of white-collar jobs obsolete or, at least, eat into the profits of established"
"Carl Benedikt Frey, the author of How Progress Ends and an associate professor of AI and work at the University of Oxford, says investors are reassessing the value of companies that rely heavily on selling software or specialist knowledge. AI turns once-scarce expertise into output that's cheaper, faster, and increasingly comparable, which compresses margins long before whole jobs disappear. Fears over widespread job losses were amplified this week by a viral essay,"
Investors are signaling that AI threatens software, wealth management, legal services and logistics firms. Powerful new AI tools have coincided with a stock market slide hitting sectors from drug distribution to price comparison sites. Advances make millions of white-collar jobs plausibly obsolete or erode established companies’ profits. Carl Benedikt Frey says investors are reassessing companies that rely on selling software or specialist knowledge. AI turns scarce expertise into cheaper, faster, comparable output, compressing margins before whole jobs disappear. Viral attention to Matt Shumer’s essay, viewed 80m times, amplified fears despite criticism of Shumer’s history of AI hype. New models such as Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.3-Codex have driven reactions. AI hyperscalers collectively plan to spend $660bn (484bn).
Read at www.theguardian.com
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