According to the CEO of Perplexity, it's time to throw away endless scrolling on social media in favor of a better hobby.
“We'll spend less time closures on Instagram. We'll spend more time using AIS,” Aravind Srinivas said in an interview with Matthew Berman published Thursday.
“Not because we want you to use it, but simply because it's how we add value to the new society,” he added.
Srinivas, who has established itself as an AI-Native alternative to Google, said those who acquire AI tools have an advantage in the job market.
“People on the frontiers using AIS will be much more employable than those who don't,” he said. “It's guaranteed that it will happen.”
But most people struggle to keep up with AI, Srinivas said.
“Humanity has become so much faster to adapt than ever,” he said.
“It hurts people, and maybe they just give up,” he added.
The CEO said some people lose their jobs because they can't keep up. As AI shrinks head numbers across the industry, Srinivas said new jobs must come from entrepreneurs.
“Other people who have lost their jobs will either start their own companies and use AI, or learn AIS and contribute to a new company,” he added.
In a response to Business Insider, Jesse Dwyer, director of communications at Perplexity, said, “It has shown many times that the most successful people are not the people who have the most knowledge, but the people who have the most questions.”
AI is already changing the job market
Tech leaders are warning about how AI is restructuring their workforce.
Humanity CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI could eliminate 50% of white-collar entry-level jobs within five years.
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In May, he told AXIOS that AI companies and governments were “sugar painted” the risk of eliminating large-scale jobs in areas like technology, finance, legal and consulting, adding, “I don't think this is on people's radar.”
So-called “AI Godfather” Jeffrey Hinton, reflecting similar concerns, told the CEO's Diary podcast last month that “AI will only replace everyone, for common intellectual labor.”
He said he was “terrified” to work as a call centre or paralegal and recommended to become a plumber.
Others are more optimistic.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says AI won't kill jobs, but it changes how all work is done.
“I'm sure 100% of all people's jobs will change,” he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday. “The work we do at work will change. Our work will change. But that is very likely – my work has already changed.”
“Some jobs are lost. A lot of jobs are created. And what I want is that the productivity we see in all industries will solve society,” he added.
Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google Deepmind, said in June that AI will produce “incredibly valuable jobs” and “technically savvy people on the forefront of using these technologies.”
