Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts that as many as half of entry-level white-collar positions could disappear within the next five years.
Dario Amodei, CEO of AI research firm Anthropic, cautions that artificial intelligence may displace 50% of entry-level white-collar workers in the coming half-decade.
Speaking to Axios on Wednesday, Amodei, an Anthropic co-founder and former OpenAI executive, stated his hope to urge the U.S. government and fellow AI developers to prepare for the repercussions of rapid automation. He warned that AI could drive U.S. unemployment as high as 10-20% within one to five years.
Amodei asserts that AI development firms are already creating systems capable of replacing workers, especially those in entry-level roles, across sectors like technology, finance, law, and consulting.
He believes the public and politicians remain “unaware” of the impending significant change and insisted that companies and officials should avoid “sugar-coating” the future, particularly for younger members of the workforce.
A Linux Foundation report commissioned by Meta earlier this month indicated that open-source AI is already impacting the economy by enhancing efficiency, promoting innovation, reducing costs, and increasing revenue.
However, Amodei worries that the potential for AI to replace human workers may continue to be underestimated, particularly if the U.S. government remains silent on the issue due to concerns about alarming workers or losing ground to China.
Amodei claims that business leaders will soon recognize the cost benefits of replacing people with AI and implement this change “en masse,” effectively ceasing to create new positions or fill existing ones, instead opting for automated solutions.
He has suggested several strategies to mitigate these effects, including a specific index to monitor AI’s impact on various jobs, briefings for lawmakers to raise awareness, and a “token tax” – a system for the government to redistribute a percentage of AI-generated revenue.
Amodei’s warning is timed with recent layoffs at several major corporations, which some believe are in anticipation of significant AI-driven changes.
Microsoft recently laid off approximately 6,000 employees, primarily engineers, despite reporting strong financial performance. Walmart eliminated 1,500 corporate positions to “simplify operations,” and Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm based in Texas, cut 500 jobs, citing “a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry.”