The persistent idea that AI disruption could create a permanent underclass signals how much collateral damage AI companies will tolerate in their pursuit of AGI
Most people I know in the A.I. industry think the median person is screwed, and they have no idea what to do about it.
New York Times Jasmine Sun
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- An NYT op-ed strikes at the root of my criticisms of Anthropic's PR blitz related to mass job displacement by AI. — I think it's unlikely to happen soon due to both adoption lag and datacenter capacity. — But for AI companies to believe it's going to happen and build these products anyway is a choice. … @carnage4life@mas.to · Dare Obasanjo
Discussion
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@chaykak
Kyle Chayka
on x
Will AI trap you in the “permanent underclass”? my column from last year https://www.newyorker.com/...
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@almostmedia
Julie Fredrickson
on x
I think Jasmine is one of the most talented writers of her generation but this is a fantasyland where both classist obsessives & the precariat are being used to create a panic to extract resources which may well kill the emerging technologies that bring positive sum change
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@jasminewsun
Jasmine Sun
on x
Most people I know in AI think the median person is screwed, and they have no idea what to do about it. I spent the last 3 months talking to dozens of researchers, economists, and policy experts about AI's impact on work; including reps from every frontier lab and several [image]
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@afinetheorem
Kevin A. Bryan
on x
Nice work by Jasmine but...economists by and large don't expect a permanent underclass. You see that in our survey she links, but also 1) productivity high correlated w/ wages historically, 2) architectural disruption is slow (where is Waymo in *your* city?), 3) prices adjust 1/2…
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@noahpinion
Noah Smith
on x
It's a problem that most of the people in the AI industry believe that their goal is to make humanity useless, not to give humanity better tools.
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r/neoliberal
r
on reddit
Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass
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@dannygroner
Danny Groner
on bluesky
“So while Anthropic employees insist that positive A.I. futures are possible — or else they wouldn't be building it — they often seem uncertain about whether that world is likely, or whether they personally are bringing it about.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/o...
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r/Economics
r
on reddit
Opinion | Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass
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@sama
Sam Altman
on x
we want to build tools to augment and elevate people, not entities to replace them.
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Ted Dintersmith
Ted Dintersmith
on linkedin
So much to take away from this NYT piece. Whether it happens quickly (3-5 years) or takes a decade, it's inevitable that AI will outperform humans in almost all knowledge-worker tasks. …
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r/BetterOffline
r
on reddit
“Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass” NYT Opinion (Gift Link)