Andrew Yang predicts that his local Starbucks will soon be filled with middle-aged, former office workers.
The Progressive Party founder and former presidential candidate said in a Substack post on Monday that AI “will displace millions of white-collar workers over the next 12 to 18 months.”
Yang said if companies start cutting back on employees, competitors will likely follow suit.
“There will be competition because the stock market will reward you if you cut jobs and penalize you if you don’t,” he added.
Yang has long warned about the impact of automation on jobs, telling the New York Times in 2018 that he predicted self-driving cars would replace truck drivers, a change that could destabilize society and spark “riots on the streets.”
Next, in a post on Substack, Yang identified which employees could be vulnerable, including mid-level office workers, middle managers, call center workers, marketers, and programmers. The list goes on.
“Do you sit at your desk and look at your computer most of the day? Think about this seriously,” he wrote. “Millions of workers are about to be handed pink slips.”
Yang did not respond to requests for further comment.
January of this year saw more layoffs than any January since 2009. This is primarily due to economic uncertainty, but some companies have already started citing AI as a reason to lay off employees.
Pinterest announced in January that it would lay off 15% of its workforce. A Pinterest spokesperson said the reorganization is part of the company’s “AI Acceleration Strategy.”
HP announced in November that it would cut up to 6,000 jobs by 2028, citing its AI efforts.
Critics also say some companies are using AI as a scapegoat for layoffs.
Tech CEOs and AI researchers are divided on how AI will impact society. Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis are predicting a very prosperous future for everyone, but others, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, say we should prepare for significant white-collar job cuts.
Yang said the impact of the layoffs he predicted would go beyond those who actually lost their jobs.
“Let’s say you’re a dry cleaner, a dog walker, or a hairdresser. If people in your community stop going to the office, your business will suffer because you’ll have fewer business shirts to wash, people will walk their own dogs, and you’ll go to the salon less often,” he says.
“The amount of money being paid for human labor is decreasing,” Yang said.
