Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the "Godfather of AI," said that artificial intelligence firms are placing bets on the widespread replacement of jobs to maximize their profits.
Tech Giants Boost AI Capital Spending
Four AI hyperscalers, including Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), are anticipated to increase capital expenditures to $420 billion next fiscal year from $360 billion this year, according to a Bloomberg TV interview via Fortune.
OpenAI also announced $1 trillion in infrastructure agreements with Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO), and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), a move that has drawn scrutiny due to the widely cited $13 billion revenue figure.
Job Market Shows Decline
Geoffrey Hinton said, “I believe that to make money you’re going to have to replace human labor,” when asked if AI investments can pay off without destroying jobs.
Hinton added Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, job openings have dropped roughly 30%, and Amazon announced 14,000 layoffs this week, mostly in middle management.
Hinton added, “Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, job openings have dropped roughly 30%, and Amazon announced 14,000 layoffs this week, mostly in middle management.”
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya, however, had earlier disputed that AI is to blame for the decline.
Productivity Gains Versus Labor Impact
According to the report, Hinton told Bloomberg that rather than AI technology per se, the issue lies “on how we organize society.” AI will result in “massive unemployment and a huge rise in profits,” he told the Financial Times in September.
By increasing productivity, AI can do “tremendous good in healthcare and education,” according to the computer scientist.
Hinton’s worries were echoed in a Senate report by Sen. Bernie Sanders, which warned that within ten years, automation and artificial intelligence could replace almost 100 million jobs in the United States.
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