WEBVTT - Monologue: The AI Job Loss Con

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<v Speaker 1>All Zone media. Hell, and welcome to this week's Better

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<v Speaker 1>Offline Monologue. You best bet I'm your host ed ziit

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<v Speaker 1>trum what Now? This week, you've probably heard some scary

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<v Speaker 1>numbers that fifty percent of all white collar jobs will

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<v Speaker 1>be replaced in the next one to five years. And

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<v Speaker 1>it's come directly from despicable Carnival Barker Dario ama Day.

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<v Speaker 1>I like calling him Warrio. It's funny. He's the CEO

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<v Speaker 1>of Anthropic and he repeated this egregious lie to both

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<v Speaker 1>Axios and CNN, leading to the most of the rest

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<v Speaker 1>of the media just quoting it advobating without thinking. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>to be specific, he said that AI would wipe out

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<v Speaker 1>half of all entry level white collar jobs and spike

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<v Speaker 1>unemployment to ten to twenty percent in the next one

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<v Speaker 1>to five years. It's always this fucking he always says like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>it's that one year, all that five years. I don't know, mate,

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<v Speaker 1>how werem I meant to know? I'm just making shit up.

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<v Speaker 1>And this is the entire quote, by the way, the

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<v Speaker 1>fundament of at least different news stories and an egregious

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<v Speaker 1>line of shit. Now, to quote the excellent Allison Morrow

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<v Speaker 1>of CNN, Amiday didn't cite any research or evidence to

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<v Speaker 1>that fifty percent estimate, and she added that Ammaday is

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<v Speaker 1>a salesman and it's in his interest to make his

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<v Speaker 1>product appear to be inevitable and so powerful it's scary,

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<v Speaker 1>and that little of what Ammaday told Axios was new,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was calibrated to sound just outrageous enough to

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<v Speaker 1>draw attention to anthropics work. I've said it once and

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<v Speaker 1>I'll say it again. Alison Morrow may be one of

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<v Speaker 1>the best living business reporters. Everyone should be taking notes

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<v Speaker 1>from her. She is the best. She was on the

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<v Speaker 1>price Gouging, she's been on AI. She's really incredible. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>saying this because Allison's been on the show and she rocks.

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<v Speaker 1>She'll be back, and also because I'm pretty critical of

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<v Speaker 1>the media and I need to give credit where it's

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<v Speaker 1>due now. In the same week, Oxford Economics put out

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<v Speaker 1>a report about how entry level workers were facing a

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<v Speaker 1>job crisis and vaguely mentioned in the preview of the

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<v Speaker 1>report that there are signs that entry level positions are

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<v Speaker 1>being displaced by artificial intelligence and higher rates, causing Axios

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<v Speaker 1>to run an article claiming that they're was now hard

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<v Speaker 1>evidence that AI was driving job loss. I should also

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<v Speaker 1>add Kevin Rouse, you know, the marketing intern that also

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<v Speaker 1>runs a New York Times column. He just quoted that

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<v Speaker 1>adverbatum like that. That's the exact quote he used in

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<v Speaker 1>a story in the New York Times. Didn't even bother

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<v Speaker 1>opening the fucking thing. Now. One might think, anyway that

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<v Speaker 1>the report would have like, I don't know hard evidence

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<v Speaker 1>based on what Axio said, and you'd be wrong. On

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<v Speaker 1>the very first page, it says that there are signs

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<v Speaker 1>that entry level positions are being displaced by official intelligence

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<v Speaker 1>at higher rates. On page three, it claims that the

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<v Speaker 1>higher adoption rates by information companies, along with the sheer

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<v Speaker 1>employment declines in some roles since twenty twenty two, suggested

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<v Speaker 1>some displacement effect from AI, and digging deeper, the largest

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<v Speaker 1>displacement seems to be entry level jobs normally filled by

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<v Speaker 1>recent graduates, and that is the whole argument that some

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<v Speaker 1>roles that could maybe be automated with generative AI have

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<v Speaker 1>seen declines and employment and so called information companies have

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<v Speaker 1>been adopting AA at supposed and undisclosed rates, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>AI has taken these jobs. Did these companies actually replace

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<v Speaker 1>workers with AI who knows no need to bother checking

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<v Speaker 1>that or whether one can actually replace any of these

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<v Speaker 1>roles with AI. Boast the report done, sold, go home,

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<v Speaker 1>smoke a cigarette. You did it, Champ, You put out

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<v Speaker 1>your fucking report, even if the report's bullshit. Actually the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of the report's pretty good. It's just this weird bit.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure they just did four pr They knew

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<v Speaker 1>that people would just go, oh my god, nurs Oh

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<v Speaker 1>my goodness. AI is taking the jobs. I must cover that,

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<v Speaker 1>except the people doing it on old people. They're people.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm thirty nine years old, they're my age, maybe a

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<v Speaker 1>little older, maybe a little younger. It's fucking terrifying. And like,

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<v Speaker 1>while are absolutely some jobs being taken by AI, there

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<v Speaker 1>is to this point little or no research that suggested

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<v Speaker 1>that it's happening at scale. And I must be clear

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<v Speaker 1>that I don't want this to happen. I'm just saying,

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<v Speaker 1>tell the fucking truth. The easiest way to prove me wrong,

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, would be to find an actual company

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<v Speaker 1>that's done it. Show me a company that has actually

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<v Speaker 1>replaced full employees with generative AI. Show me the job

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<v Speaker 1>that the AI is doing and how it is doing it,

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<v Speaker 1>and then the output that it creates do not bring

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<v Speaker 1>me a goddamn call center. I swear to Christ They've

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<v Speaker 1>been trying to automate those since they invented them. They've

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<v Speaker 1>already been doing automation before large language models. If anyone

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<v Speaker 1>actually looked into anything in technology, they would know the

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<v Speaker 1>companies have been doing this already. It makes me feel insane,

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<v Speaker 1>and you can't show me this because it isn't fucking happening,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm sick of people pretending it is. These articles

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<v Speaker 1>do not serve the public. They do not inform the public.

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<v Speaker 1>They are propaganda for companies like open Ai, Anthropic, and

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<v Speaker 1>Microsoft to pretend that their software does more than it

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<v Speaker 1>can now or ever will, so that they can continue

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<v Speaker 1>raising billions of dollars or raising their market caps. The

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<v Speaker 1>media refuses to dig too deep because doing so would

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<v Speaker 1>move against the will of the markets and their editors,

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<v Speaker 1>or worse still, they just don't care enough to check

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<v Speaker 1>whether what they're saying is true. It's the same insincere,

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<v Speaker 1>craven bullshit we saw with the metaverse, with Crypto, with

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<v Speaker 1>the return to office Demands of twenty one and twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two, with Quiet Quitting with companies price gouging and

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<v Speaker 1>blaming it on inflation. Reporters are far too willing to

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<v Speaker 1>follow exactly what they think the world wants to read,

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<v Speaker 1>rather than actually sharing the truth or learning anything themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>And my next episode is going to be a three

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<v Speaker 1>parter about why I think this keeps happening. Our economy

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<v Speaker 1>is dominated by people that are fully disconnected from the

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<v Speaker 1>world around them, that buy things and sell things for

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<v Speaker 1>other people that are disconnected to I call them business idiots,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're everywhere, and I can't wait to tell you

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<v Speaker 1>all about the next week. They turn my bloody stomach,

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<v Speaker 1>but I love you listeners, and you're gonna love this