Despite cab drivers and even teachers like himself saying they’re irreplaceable, he said it’s inevitable that the technology will take over.
“Before we always said, ‘This job is going to be automated, retrain to do this other job,’” the AI expert said. “But if I’m telling you that all jobs will be automated, then there is no plan B. You cannot retrain.”
The engineering professor is steadfast that nearly all jobs will be taken over by AI—even most of the ones that have a special human touch, like teachers and car drivers.
“Look at computer science. Two years ago, we told people ‘Learn to code—you are an artist, you cannot make money. Learn to code.’ Then we realized, ‘Oh, AI kind of knows how to code and [is] getting better. Become a prompt engineer. You can engineer prompts for AI. It’s going to be a great job. Get a four-year degree in it,’” Yampolskiy said on the podcast. “But then we’re like, ‘AI is way better at designing prompts for other AIs than any human.’ So that’s gone.”
As more jobs get replaced by AI, and roles that are created from this change also get automated, it’s an endless domino effect of unemployment. Yampolskiy warned joblessness will hit an all-time high in the next five years as all human work, including manual labor, is replaced by humanoid robots and AI agents.
“We’re looking at a world where we have levels of unemployment we [have] never seen before,” he revealed. “[I’m] not talking about 10% unemployment, which is scary, but 99%. All you have left is jobs where, for whatever reason, you prefer another human would do it for you. But anything else can be fully automated.”
While that sounds like a dark reality for most workers, Yampolskiy doesn’t seem phased by the inevitable. In fact, he sees an upside in this huge workforce shift—just like other tech leaders, he says massive jobs automation will lead to shorter workweeks.
“I don’t think there is a, ‘This occupation needs to learn to do this instead.’ I think it’s more like, ‘We as a humanity, then we all lose our jobs. What do we do? What do we do financially? Who’s paying for us? And what do we do in terms of meaning? What do I do with my extra 60, 80 hours a week?’”
