economy
Gen Z is not booing AI. It is booing its own job market
Eric Schmidt stood at a lectern at the University of Arizona’s spring commencement and told a stadium full of graduates that the impact of artificial intelligence would be ‘larger, faster, and more consequential’ than anything they had so far lived through.
TL;DR
- Graduates are booing commencement speakers discussing AI because they recognize it signals their own job redundancy.
- Data suggests AI could lead to high unemployment for new graduates, with Gen Z bearing a significant share of job displacement.
- Unlike previous generations, Gen Z is learning about labor market displacement concurrently through real-time information, leading to a more informed and critical response.
- The productivity gains from AI are currently being captured as capital by corporations rather than redistributed through labor, directly impacting the wages of entry-level workers.
- The current AI transition is characterized by companies converting wage expenses into capital expenditures, leading to job cuts among those whose entry-level positions are being eliminated.