CNN
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While many have sounded the alarm about how artificial intelligence could take over jobs in the next few years, it is already wreaking havoc in an industry where workers were once thought to be invincible: technology.
As Silicon Valley scrambles to adapt to the rapid advances in technology being developed in their own backyards, a small but growing number of tech companies have cited AI as a reason for laying off employees or reviewing new hires in recent months. ing.
Chegg, an education technology company, said in a regulatory filing last month that it had “recruited 4% of its workforce to better position itself to execute its AI strategy and create long-term sustainable value. We will reduce about 80 people who will be working.” For students and investors. ”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in an interview with Bloomberg in May that the company will pause hiring for jobs it believes will be replaced by AI in the next few years. Stated. (However, in a subsequent interview with Newsweek, Krishna said he felt his earlier remarks were out of context, emphasizing that “AI will create more jobs than it takes.”)
And in late April, file storage service Dropbox announced that it would cut about 500 jobs, about 16% of its workforce, also because of AI.
Outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas said in its latest job cuts report that AI caused 3,900 jobs to be laid off in May, making it the first public job cuts based on AI factors. The company said all of these job cuts were in its tech division.
With these moves, Silicon Valley is not only spearheading AI development, but may also give us an early glimpse of how companies can adapt to those tools. While some may be concerned, rather than entire skill sets becoming obsolete overnight, the more direct impact of new AI tools will force companies to devote their resources to better use of technology. There seems to be a shift and emphasis on workers with AI expertise. .
Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox said, “In the last few months, AI has captivated the imagination of people around the world and created a potential market for the next generation of AI-powered products. has expanded more rapidly than any of us could have anticipated,” he wrote in a memo to staff announcing Dropbox. less work. “Our next phase of growth will require a combination of different skill sets, especially in AI and early product development.”
In response to a request for comment on how the restructuring around AI is unfolding, Dropbox directed CNN to its careers page and is currently recruiting for multiple positions focused on “new AI initiatives.” .
Dan Wang, a professor at Columbia Business School, told CNN that while AI “would cause a restructuring,” he doesn’t believe it will act as a replacement for humans yet.
“In my view, AI will not necessarily replace humans, but rather enhance human work,” Wang said. “I think the race we should all be thinking about more is human specialists being replaced by human specialists who can leverage his AI tools.”
The AI-driven tech job cuts come amid widespread layoffs in the industry. More than three years into the pandemic, many technology companies are readjusting to an uncertain economic environment and declining levels of demand for digital services.
According to data tracked by Layoffs.fyi, some 212,294 workers will be laid off in the tech industry in 2023 alone, surpassing the 164,709 recorded in 2022.
But in the shadow of these mass layoffs, the tech industry has also been seduced by the AI frenzy and has invested heavily in AI talent and technology.
In January, just days after Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees as part of a broader cost-cutting measure, the company also acknowledged investing “billions of dollars” in OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT. . And in March, in the same letter Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to lay off another 10,000 employees (after cutting 11,000 last November), Meta CEO also outlined plans to invest heavily in AI.
Even Silicon Valley software engineers, who once seemed to be in particular demand, now appear to be in danger of losing their jobs or salary increases to engineers with more AI expertise.
Startup founder Roger Lee, who tracks job cuts in the tech industry through his website Layoffs.fyi, also said: Comprehensive.io examines job postings and compensation data from nearly 3,000 technology companies.
Lee told CNN that a recent analysis of data from Comprehensive.io showed that the average salary for senior software engineers specializing in artificial intelligence or machine learning is 12% higher. It’s the data points he calls “AI premium” over those who aren’t experts in the field. The average salary for senior software engineers specializing in AI and machine learning has also increased by about 4% since the beginning of the year, but the average salary for senior software engineers overall has remained flat, he said.
Lee cited Dropbox as an example of a company offering particularly high salaries for AI roles, with a base salary of $276,300 to $373,800 for the role of principal machine learning engineer. (In comparison, according to Comprehensive.io data, the current average salary for senior software engineers is $171,895.)
Those looking to succeed in tech or other industries may need to hone their AI skills.
Columbia Business School professor Wang told CNN that starting this spring semester, he began requiring students to familiarize themselves with new generative AI tools on the market. “I think that kind of experience is absolutely crucial in setting me up for success after graduation,” Wang said.
Wang added that not everyone needs to become an AI specialist, but rather workers need to know how to use AI tools to do whatever they do more efficiently. rice field.
“Here’s where the talent battlefield is really changing, because the talent differentiation comes from creative and effective ways of incorporating AI into our daily work,” Wang said.
