The next wave of AI layoffs is just around the corner. Where will people find their place for work?
Just to correct myself: the wave of layoffs is not coming, but it has already passed through.
Meta, Amazon and other big companies have started laying off workers because AI will take your jobs.
Developers have basically programmed themselves into something that will get them fired.
Meanwhile, Uber’s founder says it’s time to move into the physical world.
And that’s probably what it will be.
What’s your backup plan for offline? What will you be doing?
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From my perspective, this looks like a shift in the workplace and in what the job of a software engineer means. Companies are letting go of engineers who fit the old paradigm. When the new model stabilizes and new types of work emerge, hiring will return — but likely for people with a different skill set.
It’s like the same we can see here: almost all the launches are AI related. What do the other founders? Have they adopted?
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@alexeyglukharev the next big thing is a physical hardware and services :)
@busmark_w_nika That could be! What kind of service are you thinking about?
I don't completely buy the narrative that we've coded ourselves into absolute obsolescence, but I definitely agree the premium is shifting back to the physical world. If the software market completely dries up for me, my backup plan is to buy and modernize a boring local service business like landscaping or HVAC. You can apply all the operational frameworks we use as makers to an offline industry that still runs on pen and paper. People are always going to need physical things fixed in their homes, no matter how advanced the models get.
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@y_taka We need something like an online analyser which in the physical world is currently most favoured, and according to that offer good makers or courses that will help you to learn that.
Skilled Labour Training may surface as a sought after job, especially if immigration policies continue in the direction they're going now. Vocational training for Carpenters, Electricians, Construction Labourers, Plumbers, Heavy Equipment Operators, Welders, HVAC Technicians, Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics, Painters, Concrete Finishers etc.
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@robert_vassov I money and posession is shifting to people who know how to use their hands to craft or repair something. :)
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@robert_vassov But not in the sense of mass production because China + India would dominate. It is more about physical services.
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@karlykingsley Agree, I was told in 90 % of my life I need to be specialised. Now, specialised people are replaced by AI to a great extent. It can also happen to polymaths, but polymaths are more likely to adapt to new things. :)
I don’t think AI will eliminate work it will shift where value is created.
Digital work that is repetitive will definitely get automated. But physical services and local commerce will probably become more valuable.
Things like technicians, mechanics, delivery, repairs, and local services are hard to automate.
Interestingly, many marketplaces today are starting to connect people with these real-world services.
Curious if we’ll see more platforms focused on local economies instead of purely digital products.
Do you think AI will push more people toward independent work instead of traditional jobs?
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@prathiganesh I think that it splits, some people with an entrepreneurial spirit will learn the skill and will offer it as independent providers, and people who were used to being employed will work for them when they will grow :)
Tangent to this conversation, Rob Braxman of https://brax.me/home/rob produced a
where he says Microsoft (and other large software companies) are preparing for the day when users will no longer operate software on their computers (it's already happening) — which will become expensive dumb terminals connected to cloud services, with AI serving up your solution.I'll go fully to Linux before this happens, but the 90%-ers who don't care will be led down the rabbit hole and lose all of their privacy — for what's left of it. By the time they notice, the door will already be closed.
My app - PrivateACB exists precisely because of this philosophy — all calculation happens on the user's machine, data never leaves. That's a feature that becomes more valuable, not less, as the industry moves the other direction. Oh I... was a marketing?