Unemployment Threat Looms Everywhere, Zuckerberg's Unexpected Comment

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a different view on the impact of AI. At a time when many people are anxious about the threat of layoffs due to AI replacement, Zuckerberg instead made an unexpected comment. He admitted he is not too worried about the risk of job losses due to technological development. “But I think people assume it is a certainty. I actually don’t think so,” Zuckerberg said, as quoted from Fast Company on Wednesday. He suggested the situation for companies would improve if they focused on personal superintelligence. The situation would be completely reversed if all knowledge-based work were automated. “If there is a balance where some companies focus on improving work efficiency, while others focus on the vision of personal superintelligence, which empowers individuals and makes people more productive, then that is quite good,” Zuckerberg said. At Meta itself, he confirmed that AI development prioritises an individual approach. The power lies in the hands of the community, not in a single or centralised entity. “I don’t want to live in a future where there is only one big AI. I think that is bad, no matter how great that AI is, it is not good,” he explained. Besides Zuckerberg, a number of other tech leaders have also spoken out on the topic of job losses due to AI. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said AI is a lazy reason for layoffs. Meanwhile, Sam Altman of OpenAI explained that AI would eliminate jobs. He later changed his opinion and said his prediction was wrong. Anthropic leader Dario Amodei had a different opinion, stating that 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs are likely to be eliminated by AI.