People Might Experience a Shift in Job Roles
Issue 102 · April 28, 2025
Imagine standing atop a mountain, gazing out at the horizon. A massive wave approaches – unstoppable, transformative, inevitable.
That wave is AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence.
AGI is the creation of machines with human-level abilities across every domain. Its emergence will reshape societies, economies, and the very structure of human work. It could also unlock breakthroughs in science, medicine, and sustainability – if we wield it wisely.
How AGI will unfold is anybody’s guess.
The number of jobs already lost to AI is difficult to estimate, but every hiring decision today has to be weighed against AI’s ability to perform the same task at a fraction of the cost. Many sectors will resist assimilation, becoming increasingly artisan. Others, like travel agents after the rise of e-commerce, will specialize briefly before becoming obsolete.
The deeper I explore AI, the more I understand both its promise and its perils. Maintaining hope is essential – but blind optimism is dangerous.
Yet it is difficult to imagine any technology capable of transcending our self-imposed human and social limitations. Any society incapable of caring for their own is likely to suffer the consequences of complete automation. In a system already struggling with inequality, total automation could be capitalism’s final boss.
History offers no roadmap for this transition. But if we act with foresight, creativity, and collective will, a future worth inhabiting is within reach.
On a lighter note, I’m in Lisbon this week and Copenhagen next week for exciting collaborations with Lumiera and Manyone. Ping me if you’re around!
The opposite of life is not death, it’s the machine.
Until next week,
MZ
Could AI models be conscious? (40 min)
Interview with Hinton (50 min)
Via Iolanda in the community
“Over the last few months, I have become increasingly focused on an additional opportunity for steering the bus: the tantalizing possibility, opened up by some recent advances, that we could succeed at interpretability—that is, in understanding the inner workings of AI systems—before models reach an overwhelming level of power.”
Via Zion
How Much Understanding and Intelligence? (50 min)
Kevin Kelly on Predicting the Future (50 min)
Right up my alley: Kevin Kelly talking AI and the far future on the Every podcast. Lots of literary, historical and existential tidbits.
Via Derek
Getting more out of Vibe Coding (15 min)
Via Chris
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Unconditionally Human
Get a job if you love risk
This week I hosted three Substack Live calls. Viewers could leave comments in real-time and even join the conversation, which made it more fun than podcasts…
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9 months ago · 8 likes · Evgeny Shadchnev
“Employment was once the norm, entrepreneurship the exception. Soon, it will be the reverse.” Is this the AI effect in action?
Via Jurgen
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