AI Job Destruction Is Coming, Another CEO Says

"He called them "lower-value human capital," according to Bloomberg. He described a plan under which 15% of Standard Chartered's support staff will be gone in less than five years. Bloomberg calculates that the bank has 52,000 people who fit this description. And his assessment was nothing short of brutal. At a conference he said, "It's not cost cutting; it's replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we're putting in," Nevertheless, the people fired are human."

"There are two schools of thought about AI's effects on jobs. And within one of these, there are two more. The first case is that AI will make more products and somehow add people to the workforce. The arguments for this are usually less than convincing. The cases for job losses fall into separate parts. One is that well-educated people will not find jobs at well-paying companies. This includes financial firms, banks, and large consulting firms."

"One example of this is job cuts at McKinsey, the world's leading consultancy. AI can do what low-level analysts can do, even if those analysts graduate from Harvard Business School. The other part of the job cut argument is that the most poorly paid jobs in America will be eliminated. People who work the floors at Walmart will be replaced by AI-driven robots. These can find people's merchandise and act as cashiers."

Standard Chartered Plc is among the world’s largest banks, and its CEO Bill Winters said AI will lead to job losses in the thousands or tens of thousands. He described support staff reductions of 15% within less than five years, affecting about 52,000 people. He framed the changes as replacing “lower-value human capital” with “financial capital and investment capital,” while emphasizing that the people removed are still human. Job impacts are often explained through two schools of thought. One claims AI will create more products and add workers, but the case is usually weak. Another predicts job losses, including fewer opportunities for well-educated workers at high-paying firms and elimination of poorly paid roles through AI and robots in retail.

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