LinkedIn Cofounder Reid Hoffman says people are underestimating impact of AI on jobs, rejects bloodbath fears
Many professionals are worried about AI taking over jobs, especially in white-collar roles. However, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman believes that the fear of AI, particularly the panic over mass job losses, is all due to its exaggeration. Hoffman believes that while AI will certainly bring significant transformation to the job sector, there will be no bloodbath for white-collar workers.Hoffman made these comments in response to a statement by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei during an interview with Fast Company. Amodei had told Axios that AI could lead to a dramatic overhaul of white-collar work. While Hoffman acknowledged that change is inevitable, he dismissed the idea that the rise of AI would spell catastrophe for workers.advertisement'Dario is right that over, call it, a decade or three, it will bring a massive set of job transformations. And some of that transformation will involve replacement issues,' Hoffman said. He emphasised that the shift in jobs due to AI should not be confused with total job destruction. 'Just because a function's coming that has a replacement area on a certain set of tasks doesn't mean all of this job's going to get replaced.'
To support his views, Hoffman pointed to the example of the launch of spreadsheet software like Excel. He highlighted that although Excel impacted the nature of accounting work, it did not eliminate the need for accountants. Instead, the accounting profession evolved and even expanded in scope. 'Everyone was predicting that the accountant job would go away. And actually, in fact, the accountant job got broader, richer,' he noted.advertisementHoffman maintains a clear view that, in future, AI will assist humans rather than replace them entirely. He envisions a world of 'person plus AI doing things' as the most likely scenario going forward. Therefore, AI-powered tools like GPT-4, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot should be used to enhance departments — not eliminate them. He warns that trying to completely substitute humans with AI would be a serious mistake. 'Could I just replace, for example, my accountants with GPT-4? The answer is absolutely not. That would be a disastrous mistake.'The LinkedIn co-founder also pushed back against the notion that automation through AI would wipe out entire departments. 'Let's replace my marketing department or my sales department with GPT-4. Absolutely not,' he said, adding, 'that's nowhere close to a bloodbath.'However, Hoffman is not denying the potential for job replacement altogether. He acknowledges that some roles are more vulnerable — especially those that have already been reduced to scripted, mechanical tasks. 'What jobs are most likely to be replaced? They're the ones where we're trying to program human beings to act like robots.' Yet, even in such cases, Hoffman believes AI will not take over everything. Much will depend on how companies choose to implement AI in their workflows.
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