Every day there's a new headline about the unemployment crisis in the UK. I tend to try and steer clear of posting negative stuff, but am still a bit off from someone responding to my post yesterday (highlighting the role of Ai in all of this) to tell me I'm wrong, that Ai isn't a significant issue, and that people just aren't trying hard enough to speak to hiring managers. I recognise there are other factors (which I also spoke about in the thread), but strongly believe Ai plays a significant role in the 1.7 million people actively seeking employment in the UK but unable to find anything, despite there being 721000 unfilled job vacancies. Sharing this because, whilst it's a bit frightening, it's also a bit validating for people who find themselves in this position.
Post
Replies:
6
@TheBreadmonkey Urgent message for that replier:
@TheBreadmonkey One huge byproduct of commercial AI/LLMs is that it's shifted how layoffs impact stock prices.
It used to be, if a company announced layoffs, they'd look bad and the stock price would drop.
Now if a company announces layoffs it can say "we're replacing them all with AI" and this makes the company look good/modern/forward-thinking. And even better for them, nobody ever checks whether the AI replacement is actually true. It's a win-win.
There's also the byproduct that AI companies' financials are the numbers keeping the US, at least on paper, from being in a recession. And it benefits governments to pretend they're not in a recession so they don't have to do anything extra about their unemployed masses.
So lots of people are out of work, assuming their skills are obsolete because that's the story that benefits corporations, AI companies and governments. Whether a chatbot really can do their job is secondary.
"aren't trying hard enough to speak to hiring managers"???
This HAS to be someone who has never had to hire anyone. (Or participate in hiring anyone.) If you are "trying hard" to speak to hiring managers instead of going through their system, you are being an incredibly annoying jerk to the very person making the decision and ensuring that you will not be chosen.
His take was that he works for a big company that employs a lot of people and because he personally hadn't experienced problems to do with Ai (being in long-term employment) he didn't believe it was a significant factor. That people should leverage personal connections or make an effort to circumvent the process to speak directly to a hiring manager and that when anyone did that with him when he hires he puts them to the front of the queue. I tried to be as cordial as I could, but unfortunately did get a little pissy. Not my finest hour.
‘I can’t see past my privilege to empathise with your position, and it would surely never happen to me. Therefore you must be at personal fault for your experience, you worthless loser. Let me pull reasons for your failure out of my prejudiced backside and flaunt them at you.’
Somebody needs to send the fool a link to a copy of ‘Trading Places’ with all of the funny bits edited out.
@TheBreadmonkey Government encouraging hiring among young people is similar to government emphasis on STEM education. It comes at a cost of de-emphasis somewhere else.
Giving incentive to hire younger folks gives disincentive to hire older folks. Giving incentive to study STEM gives disincentive to study non-STEM topics, like art, history, philosophy, etc.
