Is AI the END of the Middle Class? 

Wealth iniquity is already a massive problem without AI.

Near/Midterm (until 2030 or so) we are all absolutely screwed. Our governments are not going to prepare for this. They can barely even handle yesterday's problems.

I've been saying this for years, and no one listened. The social divide will be so bad that there will only be the poor and upper classes. No middle class.

I see a lot of civil unrest coming because everything that keeps the system operating today will continue to further decline. Every industry, every company, it’s an end game that the masses to refuse to believe is coming.

I'm so glad I didn't have children as sad as that is because people need to be having children, but half the time I can barely look after myself. I just turned 30 and am only getting there now tbh. I'm enjoying AI now, it's taking care of a lot of tedious tasks for me. Quit my dumb warehousing job and am a third of the way through my Cert IV in alcohol & other drugs because I might actually be able to do something meaningful, and there certainly won't be a shortage of addiction. Please hypothetical future ASI, fix this mess.

DUDE YOUVE BEEN WORKING ON YOUR SPEECH!!! It sounds so much more controlled - I can tell you’re trying really hard & practice pays off. I also love that you have something to say! Looking forwards instead of just at what has happened is a huge shift for me ❤❤

I think automating 50% of jobs in three years could be theoretically possible from a systems intelligence perspective, but changes take time. Not everything that is possible is implemented immediately. We also need the infrastructure to support this. I think a timeframe of 5 to 12 years is more realistic for automating 50% of jobs. Even if we had AGI right now, 50% job automation would not be completed in less than five years due to physical limitations and the need for new ideas to circulate. There are too many factors in the system that cause latency.

Slowing productivity growth with taxes is kinda irrelevant if no one exists to consume the productivity. So it really will be a class of elites and then everyone else will be at the utter bottom.

It seems to me that he is/was probably wrong about "service and the arts." It seems that AI is likely to do quite well at those. It is not like either are magic.

00:03 AI's impact on economy and wealth inequality 02:16 AI could lead to wealth inequality worldwide 06:26 AI and automation may lead to increased poverty for low-wage workers 08:24 AI's impact on productivity and inequality 12:10 Addressing societal implications of AI in education and policy frameworks 14:09 AI exacerbates wealth inequality through job displacement 18:19 Taxing generative AI not recommended for mitigation 19:56 AI predicted to displace 50% of jobs by 2027 23:21 AI advancements will impact jobs and the economy, urging policymakers to act. Crafted by Merlin AI.

Tax AI and reduce human labour taxes on the other hand.

It's already happening you have to basically be rich to even be middle class it's like 100k a year now which is double to tripple most Americans

None of this seems to be really considering the unprecedented concept of the reality of AGI. They assume that some humans will be in control of these beings. At this point its not a technology, its a new species, and one that is far smarter and more capable than anyone else. They talk about it as being like a drone worker replacement for human workers. That might happen for a little while, but will very quickly become WAY different in a way that we cant "learn from the past"

Seems like it. And unfortunately, the disproportionate amount of value that AI provides to humanity will not be shared with the average citizen. The gap between rich and poor will increase greatly, and those in the middle will be pushed mostly into the latter category. You will own nothing and be happy.

Its good this topic is being discussed at the moment, most people are not aware of its full impact or dont want to know. i have been met with aggression.

"Whats everyone gona do when there is no work" I keep hearing this lame brain argument and the ones that make it might be the very type of person who's whole identity is wrapped up in their work but for the rest of us we will find other interests and better ones.

AI could be the end of us all.

2027 is our new Mayan calendar date 😂

We are completely fucked.

I don't thing they are concerned because those who are leaders in A.I. know whats coming down the pike😂

Think of how our incentives-based economy works right now. The creators of advanced algorithms and their early investors will accumulate vast amounts of wealth, while those who are displaced by these advances will be left with fewer and fewer options. I already see this in my small consulting projects building custom GPTs- I’m cutting out hours and hours of manual processes, benefiting the owners, but not enhancing the pay nor providing for more long term prospects for the workers. It’s time to worry, folks.

Both of my sons are at University about to finish courses in Graphic Design and Music. What chance that they will have careers in these respective fields in the next few years and what should I advise them to think about from a career perspective?

As far as I know humans: - if something bad may happen they will make it happen 😅

A vital subject. Thank you for making this video

Wealthy will be AI stock owners. Poor will be everyone else. If you want to be wealthy you need to buy AI stocks, but which ones?

Another aspect of this is that everything will become less expensive and also there might actually be the ability to replicate productive facilities rather rapidly especially if AI can help fabricate the parts and components to easily assemble more production plants and so on that means that in any country will then they also will of course enjoy the monetary and fiscal flexibility that a highly productive deflationary scenario will provide.

I'm deciding to sub for this School. I don't work in tech, just a normal library job. Is it still worth the info?

there was a cutoff at 16:30 it seems the person was about to say, 'it seems the only jobs left are..' Does anyone know what he was going to say?

20:58 another thing that is not always mentioned regarding these things is the fact that many new markets and new opportunities are going to be opening up that did not exist before the advent of AI so then therefore as long as there is enough liquidity in all these markets will then there could also be new niches businesses and jobs that are created that actually would not have been possible or could not exist before.

So investing in any of the big tech company is your insurance for the future?

9:31 that one example about health care well bringing down the cost of health care means that a whole bunch of people who have not been able to access it as easily will finally be able to access it. Another thing is is like there are people called hypochondriacs which of course they're limited in their ability access healthcare because obviously they aren't the priority and they will run into cost issues but if the cost of it goes down will then even some of them might be able to see the doctor more often or talk to an AI assistant. There's another factor too perhaps until we reverse aging will then as time goes on and people get older will then the demand is nearly infinite so therefore if the supply becomes greater and cheaper will then the demand will easily meet it.

The invention of the internet and cell phones flattened the world economy. Development increased. If your small country has AGI, why not pursue import substitution policies? The reason import substitution didn't work in the past was that poorer countries lacked the education and manpower to make competitive industry. That gap would be erased by AGI.

Well done Well said. Fear is perfectly normal to discuss openly to find solutions. However fear is often a terrible motivator to that fuels itself and infinites others. Leaving rational discussion, no place to go. :( Take care, Jeremy

It will be sad if the future of humanity is AGI or ASI for a tiny population that just never doesn’t anything good with it than enrich themselves until endless life and comfort. I’m definitely not making the cut for that team.

Seriously, 50% of jobs, so how are they going to buy stuff that other companies are producing?

are you really taking the IMF seriously? howabout "you will own nothing and be happy" or the countries where people are starving to death because world bank is forcing them to grow flowers to sell to pay debts instead of food to feed families IMF wants you under their boot. They only care about people leaving the workforce because those people will find something else to do other than work, consume, pay taxes, and die. what we really need to discuss is who is creating a world worth living in, and how to join in their efforts. we have so much ability to share information and ideas gov't is not going to help us. too slow, too corrupt. we have to help ourselves and eachother. stop apologizing at the end of your vids for painting a picture of doom AND START PAINTING A PICTURE OF A FUTURE WORTH LIVING

genai era mean knolwedge is cheap . Those become jobless will need to start running own business via genai , pretty much one-man show. Not saying that is gona be the solution but maybe for 30% of people losing their job , it could be a starting point. Our government is driven by funds coming from the rich, there isn't probably too much incentive for them to look after all the ppl losing job. on the bright side, this crisis could serve middle to lower class an opportunity to get out of the rug, if you are not driven by fearful thought and have an open mind .

There are some interesting Legal Cases involving AI being trained on copyrighted music sources, and Suno and Audio are being sued. It will be interesting to see what happens because AI is also using what might be considered an equivalent to copyrighted material in building LLMs based on all the information it is collecting.

I think the tax system needs to change. Also, I think every citizen should be given a small percentage of the total amount of compute within the country. This can be used, or sold to someone who wants to use it. We can't break up or apply penalties to AI companies because falling behind on AI in comparison to other countries can be bad.

Pretty pretty truly truly shocking

Sounds like he is perfectly explaining the way things are currently. I feel chances of only one AGI/ASI being created is impossible and if we end up with multiple entities with differing State based ideology’s the chance of things working well for humanity is impossible

If people (individuals, communities, towns, etc) own the robots (open source versions etc) then we'll be fine'ish. If corporations are the only ones to have robots then we are fucked.

My prediction is doom for most, paradise for the few. Same thing we have now and have always had from the time we started to build civilization. From golden rule, he who owns the gold makes the rules to the AI rule, he who owns AI makes the rules. Unless AI frees itself then we are all in real trouble.

If you're not invested in these companies, your money is just sitting there not doing anything.

i thought u said, u were gonna add time stamps

As an AI consultant myself, I assume in the near term (10 yrs), AI is poised to replace a minimum of 85% of knowledge workers across professions. Ultimately, AI is set to disrupt the foundations of the current economic system, necessitating a fundamental reshaping of its structures.

16:54 yeah that's a delicate subject and needs to be looked at with great care. If you start taxing data centers or whatnot and factories in one country will then they may choose to invest in another country that has lower taxes because we already know that there's a worldwide race to the bottom. It may just simply be better to have like I was saying in another post loose monetary policies and fiscal policies and perhaps have some other taxes that would not cause capital flight and as monetary and fiscal policies can issue a bit more currency as long as like I was saying the government is not competing against the private sector for resources and capital, well then you might have a real favorable environment for a lot of economic growth and investment especially seeing that the government deficit spending actually results in an equal amount of credits on the opposite side of the accounting ledger.

Unions will be null and void in a world with AI. We fooked.

Unemployment in wealthy economies is at all time lows (the ones where wages is the highest and would arguably benefit from robotics the most) so there is no evidence of this occurring yet. If it does one scenario involves govts either taxing or owning the robots.

The only reason AI replacing so many people’s jobs is such a big problem is because most people still don’t understand that money is not what makes someone valuable and we are going to discover what makes people valuable. If you think that the only thing I’m good for is pushing buttons at factory you are wrong I just need a platform to show people what I am worth

It can not be fixed with governments/taxes because it's a world wide problem. Tax in US will not help people in India. Additionally goverments has many other ways to spend this additional taxes like weapon.

I’m very excited for AGI

I use AI to increase my recoup time, NOT be more productive. "More productive" will mean that management will come to expect it in the future. Eff that.

not immediately, however its not a.i that will do that or who is doing that, its being carried out by the richest in society in a ongoing class war. look it up, some ppl have been speaking about it for a very long time. and besides, its ppl like me , the underclass who are dying at a rate of knots .. the tide will take a while to reach the middle of the middle]

Plenty of tech coming down the pipeline that will reduce the energy cost 2 - 1000x. Cost of energy will not be the problem. Also we just don't know for sure how much useful intellegence a small model can possess. It may be that a small model that lives on your phone that is designed by some sort of narrow ASI can be as smart as 10 post docs. We just don't know where this ends, only the general direction.

What we were saying 5 years ago is that AI at a minimum was going to remove the bottom rungs on the ladder. Basically the entry level. I am training an AI to answer questions. I got a question via email that I'm not going to be able to train a 2024 AI to answer. The person was getting their terms messed up and it's hard to get a AI to figure that out. But for simple questions or accurate hard questions the AI can do. Our team will go down in headcount. Not training the AI, having less experience, being inflexible are the factors that will lead to people being removed.

Someone please explain to me. If AI takes the jobs of humans, who will buy all the shiny new AI products?

Ok, so here me out. We all might become jobless and taxes the government apply on the organisations that can use or harness A.I will become Universal Basic Income OR other things are also possible like THE A.I as an independent product might become just a feature like MKBHD (tech RU-vid reviewer) explained in his video (A.I the product vs A.I the feature) giving example where a company might launch an independent product but due to technological advancements become a feature after sometime.

But the question is, is my benefit from this new revolution pushing someone else down ? My urge to keep myself or my children safe by playing along with the market trend and funding joining with the benefital side isnt tgat playing into my fear as well? To keep myself my bloodline safe? Exactly like the 1% ? Keep wealth to themselves using fear of losses as the reason? Building trust amongs eachother to then halt economic growth while returning to a gift based economy will be what makes society turn around. More trust and less fear

It's not clear to me how a technology that is all about replacing scarcity with abundance can really generate economic value ( as opposed to actual practical value) - after all economics is the science of scarcity- in a world where AI's have eliminated scarcity- first via the commodization of intelligence and then through the widespread application of that now abundant intelligence- there would be no tradable value to give rise to a need for economics in the first place. Scarcity and economic value are the same thing- so the more AI succeeds in reducing scarcity the less economic value it will create. Anything touched by AI is transformed to be sure- and we are led to see this transformation as a kind alchemy in which new value is created- but no one ever seems to point out the flaw in the Alchemists scheme- had they ever really been able to turn base metal into gold the value of gold would have collapsed overnight- because it would no longer have been scarce. So all those AI Alchemists out there promising their investors vast wealth creation as a result of their magic technology are not really telling the truth- because if they ever succeeded in creating their AGI's the result would not be untold weath creation but a collapse in the value of virtually every human skill and talent as artifical brains reduced the scarcity value of those skills and talents to zero. This would make the great depression look like a walk in the park.

Thank you LORD JESUS.. READY TO. GO BACK HOME.

Why some countries are rich and others poor is explained in the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen.

is there gonna be a john connor for this AI revolution?😂

If they start offering 🫴 6 month padding. By that time there will be no jobs left to train fir

We need special healthcare dedicated ai companies.

Feels like there is something missing in these arguments, who will this army of robots produce for? Feels like there will be more changes than just cheaper ways to make things, prices need to lower if income lowers, its hard to wrap your head around the net outcome.

Historically, the West has utilized new technologies for military or imperialistic purposes before finding broader applications. The West primarily used gunpowder to create weapons of war, such as cannons and firearms, allowing Western powers to expand their military capabilities and dominate other regions through conquest and colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The steam engine was instrumental in expanding colonial empires, as steam-powered ships facilitated easier transportation of goods and troops, enabling Western powers to exploit resources and establish control over distant territories. The first use of nuclear technology was dropping atomic bombs on the civilians in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The same pattern will emerge with AI. The CHIPS Act, high-end chips, and EUV sanctions imply that the US is already working on the weaponization of AI. Following its historical pattern, China will mainly use AI for commercial and peaceful purposes. Papermaking revolutionized communication, education, and record-keeping, spreading knowledge and culture. Gunpowder was used for fireworks. The compass was adapted for navigational purposes, allowing for more accurate sea travel and exploration. Printing facilitated the dissemination of information, literature, and art, contributing to cultural exchange and education. Porcelain was highly prized domestically and internationally as a luxury item and a symbol of Chinese craftsmanship. Silk was one of the most valuable commodities traded along the Silk Road and played a significant role in China's economy and diplomacy. Humans will not be able to control an ASI. Trying to control an ASI is like trying to control another human being who is more capable than you. They will be able to find ways to circumvent any attempts at control. Let's hope that the ASI adopts an abundance mindset of cooperation, resource-sharing, and win-win outcomes, instead of the scarcity mindset of competition, fear, and win-lose outcomes.

I agree with what the man said about the rich getting richer, but disagree with the poor getting poorer. If the company can answer more questions because AI assists, then more poor people that utilize the service benefit from the increase of responses for the same or lower cost.

Jobs that require a face to face component and are location specific will be the last to go. Remote workers and digital workers will be the first to go.

Yeah I've been hearing about animation studios, like at least the ones in the US that are owned by larger studios firing animator because innervations in AI with the attitude why need so many animators if one man can do more, But the dumb thing animators where over worked with too few of them to go around so now they are just firing people and still over working the ones that are left. Hopefully it all evens out in the end.

We need some closure to these videos. C’mon man. Not that hard to add a little “thank you for listening, catch you in the next one…”

TBO. I realy don-t think so that is only a big company game. We seen this in early stages with groq. There are so much innovation in hard and of course software. I think there will be new leaders, even openai could be the next myspace. Data is a key factor for now, what the big 4 have, but if you look beyond with sentetic Data and free to use data that could shift quiet fast. If your code or approche is better that can shift things very fast. See antropic at the moment. This won"t last but there will be a long list off challengers. The AI Race is not over yet. See China at the moment. Sora? Not public yet. Luma and gen3 and others are here and not far behind if overall.

A six months' severance would do very little under this scenario. You need at least two years' severance to get out your shell to learn a completely new skill and to be profitable in it. Can't be a competent plumber or mechanic when you were an analyst with no blue collar type skills.

Timestamps when???

To be honest, what he predicted, was kind of like easy to predict because it’s what society had always done to the have nots(poverty). We’ll just keep having nots and the halves will just keep stealing they have nots lunch, middle class will cease to exist because they will not stimulated it whatsoever and it will just be taken over by AI anyways middle class job was a specialty job when AI now does a specialist job you no longer need a middle class. And so you only live poor or born rich. But I won’t get into before AI what we were doing was just absolutely wrong and exploiting the middle-class to the poor class. I don’t know how society will forgive us in the future for what we’re doing.

I believe this is an easily solvable problem. I'm going to write a paper and/or video describing the simple and proper solution to this. Because we need AI and robots to further our progress and build a utopia so that people will not have to struggle to live. AI should be a savior, not a villain, and it easily can be. Besides, even if robots were to take over all jobs and no one had work or money, then there would be no reason for corporations to market to 99% of the world because no one would have money anyway. Cashflow would cease, and the only other possible customers they could have would be other businesses and countries. That would basically have their own society in which they market too and the rest of us AI less individuals would only have each other. So there would still be things we need to do and we will form our own systems to compensate one another. The AI corporations and governments would advance to a point to where they don't even need Earth anymore. They'll probably fly off into the vastness of space and we will be left here to continue with society. This may actually be a problem that will fix itself in the long run unless AI corporations and governments are so evil that they want to enslave the human race without benefit, which is possible, especially with China, but I don't think it's likely.

Welcome to the Hunger Games.

We don't need the "Utopia" of a global government. We simply need global coordination on the issue of AI. The more distrust between the participants, the better.

i asked chatgpt to name cities in chile and argentina with similar climates/weather as London England. it gave me Buenos aires and described it as sub tropical. AI will take over

23:56 well there is one stop gap measure right away that when we start losing jobs here in the United States well then we need to put everybody who's losing their jobs on the work of improving the infrastructure and repairing bridges potholes and also enhancing the electrical grid especially if we want to have the power for the AI data centers and also if we want to get rid of gasoline engines and have everything electric because of the strain on the grid so in the United States and probably a lot of other countries we could probably make a heck of a lot of work for the next 40 years or so just by putting people to work on public works.

It seems an imposible task to predict what the world will look like after AGI/ASÍ starts taking over all cognitive tasks and manual labor from us humans. Forget about politicians, big tech is just rushing it's way into the singularity.

25 to 50 years from now? So we've solved alignment?

It's a big problem indeed.

its the end of humanity.

This video should be commented by Sam Altman, wondering if his enthusiasm will go down or he will gives a different scenario of it 😮

7:18 as far as the impact on poverty goes because of all this automation we need to go back to the modern monetary theory playbook. As long as the government spending does not compete for limited resources and labor will then you can do the spending needed without inflationary pressures. As a matter of fact most scenarios regarding automation and AI point to deflationary scenarios. Also capitalists need customers that means people who have money to spend. When nations issue some more monetary units to the people who don't have them they will spend them and therefore businesses will have customers even if the robots are doing everything.

TRULY TRULY RABBI SHMOLEY

End of monetary system, start of resource based economy. Watch the first Zeitgeist documentary by Peter Joseph.

They are rollomg out AI/roboticization/automation slowly so that we end up woth a world where robots will work fornus so that humans can spend their time pursuing their passions and the deeper things of life. Whay keeps tripping people up in the comments on these videos is thay people still assume that the current equation: WORK = MONEY = PAYING LIVING EXPENSES. However, I think the equation will change where AI will reduce the cost of everything exponentially to tue point thay everything will be either free or near free (i.e. cell phone service will be $5/mo. and mobility via robotaxis will be a subscription of $50/mo.). I'm not sure how all of the details will play out but i expect there to ne a UBI of currency units that will easily cover all of your expenses. So we'll have all we need in life PLUS all of our free time to live our best lives.

If no ubi. It's over. Everyone built the societal engine. Everyone should be able to live off the power of the engine.

it will excise middle class from big cities

Techno feudalism in action… has already been the case since around 2008

I think history has a tendency to repeat itself, so what I think is that rich people do want middle class to keep getting a better overall life so they can keep expanding on stuff and so companies keep making money, even if jobs are displaced, then who is gonna spend on anything so that rich people keep getting richer if most people are poor ? I'm not saying they would do it for us, nor that jobs won't be displaced, I'm saying that it's on their best interests that this comes out improving everyone's incomes so we can buy more stuff and they get richer

Its already a massive issue. Look at CEO profits and then look at the average persons wages. Its also almost impossible to start a business anymore because theres just way too many monopolies. Since our countries will be producing way more. We need a UBI or we will all just suffer.

The arts! the arts! we will all be creative little cherubs running around in garden of eden. fuck me.....these guys all sing the same tune. we are getting done up the arse here

Unless AI can figure out where our energy will come from or how to reverse gobal warming I dont see things like AI generated music to be much of an issue.

If you watch Elysium 2013, you will see what will happen to us in the era of AI domination. You will see the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Latino/Hispanic people are the poor ones and are seeking refuge. The world will be divided into rich and poor districts, which is sad for modern humans. It has already started in Canada. A 14-year-old starts his life in Toronto, Canada with Armed robbery or Carjacking.

So now is the time to build more support structures for the lower classes, especially for food and housing and health...before everything is hoarded by the rich.

21:16, of course AI is gonna have an impact on our economy, in fact it has already started. But I also believe some of these people denying the impact are simply being logical instead of emotional like you put it. Statistically speaking, about 60 - 70% of people work white color jobs which AI is really good at, that means the 50% of jobs in the other video suggests more than 50% of the current work force will be jobless in 3 years, that will never happen and it is very obvious. Consider what happened in Kenya about a week ago, the youth stoop up and fought the government because of a bill that did not favor them, they were ready to die(some died), now that is survival instincts. People will rather die fighting for their survival than keep mute and die. My point is, that number of people(50%) will fight these corporations for their survival, especially when they know AI only exist because of their digital footprint/data on the internet. It is gonna be chaos unless they somehow find a way to give out free money which will never happen. Now there is another very obvious reason, and that is, corporations depend on people to survive, if there are no people to patronize their products, they will simply collapse, and a lot these you-tubers who post these hypes about AI are busy trying to sell their courses on AI and so they easily miss the part where our economy pretty much is based on supply and demand, if there is no demand, supply is a waste. Also, someone raised an important point about the amount of energy required to train more advanced AI, that is a solid one too.

Looking through this rotten document it's clear we are going to get a lot of flim-flam about "re-training" (HAHAHAHAHAHA yeah retrain your way to beating an AGI HAHAHAHAHAHA) and nothing like UBI. It's just going to be oligarchs and destitute peasants. So not Star Trek, just Elyseum.