Tech scholars speculate that AI will destroy the economy

[onTheBrink 1,602]

I've resigned myself to a Cyberpunk future

[MOT 3,637]

It's a biggie. People 'having jobs' is such a foundation stone. We may have to come up with a brand new structure - no such thing as businesses, economies, money, rich people (are you listening Musk, Bezos, Zuck etc). Taken in conjunction with climate change making habitable places uninhabitable... it's all rather thought-provoking, to put it nicely.

[Bronco 26,989]

3 hours ago, Economy said:

As such i dont share the opinion that rising unemployment or middle class struggle automatically has to self implode companies. This does of course also depend on how quickly the wave comes. I am not saying it cant trigger a collapse as much as I am saying its not really a guarantee

I still think it is a guarantee, albeit a slowburning one currently. Because I fully agree with you that the private sector is increasingly building itself an economy without the middle & lower classes (although some industries like retail remain far more exposed) but government's can't do the same. If anything, this shift in economic activity makes it far more likely it'll be a government debt crisis that causes any collapse before a private sector crisis causes a collapse. 
The wealthier percentiles & companies are far better at tax avoidance & evasion than the lower/middle classes were ever allowed to be. 

[Auralegends 8,944]

1 hour ago, onTheBrink said:

I've resigned myself to a Kindness Punk future

[gumzy3000 7,940]

A few years ago I naively thought AI would make those of us in white collar jobs work less due to the efficiencies it adds. While that’s true to an extent, mass AI adoption in the corporate world is increasing the output of workers and a lot more is expected of them. In the end, demands are getting higher from upper managers for workers to perform and I feel my coworkers are more stressed and exhausted now.

The constant push for growth in highly developed countries is completely unsustainable and this system of capitalism will certainly collapse. We just don’t know when. 

[Roughhouse Dandy 13,782]

Honestly? Good. There needs to be a big change and a comfortable, willing shift unfortunately isn't in the cards for is because of oligarchs. If/when it happens, may our suffering be small and theirs insurmountable. 

[Helxig 45,544]

I feel like this is so glaringly obvious but NOONE seems to be paying attention. It' making me feel like a crazy person

If AI replaces a large portion of jobs, and we don't find enough new jobs to re-employ those people, we have mass unemployment. That creates a huge burden on welfare systems and of course translates to homelessness. While the very few at the top of all the companies become ultra wealthy, by laying off 50% of their work force and taking all the money for themselves. Then what? We end up like other countries that have a wealthy few living in palaces and the rest living in slums? People don't seem to believe that it can ever happen in their country, but it can. It can happen to you, me, and the people all around us. We're in so much trouble

Even as a hairdresser I can't count the amount of clients who have been replaced by AI already, are worried about it, or are blissfully unaware that they are literally training their AI replacements right now. I also get pissed off because some of my workmates are super pro-AI because they don't think it will affect them. And aside from how selfish that mindset it, they're also stupid to think so, because we are in an industry that relies on the general public having disposable income to spend at our salon. F.uck this world

[Economy 53,019]

10 hours ago, Bronco said:

I still think it is a guarantee, albeit a slowburning one currently. Because I fully agree with you that the private sector is increasingly building itself an economy without the middle & lower classes (although some industries like retail remain far more exposed) but government's can't do the same. If anything, this shift in economic activity makes it far more likely it'll be a government debt crisis that causes any collapse before a private sector crisis causes a collapse. 
The wealthier percentiles & companies are far better at tax avoidance & evasion than the lower/middle classes were ever allowed to be. 

I mean thats what i said in one of my comments. If theres a collapse i think its more likely to be caused by sovereign debt at this point

 

Im not fully convinced companies will evaporate their own earnings with layoffs as a mathematical innevitability. Thats what im disagreeing with the most

[Apec 355]

Sorry, having spent so many hours getting my Behavioral Economics Degrees over a decade ago and having done so many citations of random researcher names they still quickly float to the surface but I had to look these guys up. I didn't recognize either Gerry Tsoulakis or Brett Hemenway Falk so assumed they belonged to the conservative school. 

Behavioral Economics is progressive in its theories, approaches, ethos (it is basically on the side of the worker/consumer more than corporate influence - although we're neutral, the destination is definitely people-focused and so are our attempts to help usher in equity instead of equality for all marginalized groups), Sociology/Psychology/History/Cognitive Science/Political Science/Social Anthropology etc. are just as important as Macroeconomics, Microeconomics or Econometrics, the overall goal is to slowly break down those walls so we can adjust for an economic model that's for all citizens, for PEOPLE. And close that damn income gap among many other changes that aren't even based on human behavior and also try to help through the lens of mass behavior and not, like the old school mind-bogglingly still does, make models where each consumer makes "optimal" personal economic choices in every single instance of their lives - long-term (something we're notoriously bad at according to every study ever) or short-term. When I see those models I don't see people, I see empty fantasy worlds. My yearning for steady progress in our systems (revolutions rarely work out, sadly) made me choose the one where people are centered instead of companies, with a good, moral value system. Not one professor seemed out of place.

Anyway, ramble over. While I abhor AI's everything like it's lay-off err... problem, copyright theft, most of these AI businesses engaging in corruption to pollute freely and leaving entire towns to rot, having little to no safety nets, what AI has done to addicted people/there's even been a death of a teen 2 years ago I think and so much more...

Okay, so there's no actual Economists in sight here. Brett Hemenway Falk is a Computer Scientist at UPenn. He is the director of the Crypto and Society Lab and has published a lot about cryptography, coding theory and network analysis. He also teaches a course on Blockchain technology. His background is in Mathematics.

Gerry Tsoulakis is "recognized among emerging global business thinkers shaping the future of management and technology" (Sorry, yuck but that's a sentence I wouldn't want attached to me ) - He specializes in Digital Platforms, AI and Machine Learning, and is co-founder of the Crypto and Blockchain Economics Research Forum (CBER). Starting very soon he will be professor of artificial intelligence and management science at Oxford University, Saïd Business School and research lead “AI and Society” at Oxford-UBS Center for Applied AI. He's a Business and AI guy. Never confuse Business or Management with Economics, they're extremely different things/fields of study, Economics is much bigger-picture and doesn't concern itself with managers unless it's to study their behavior.

No actual economists contributed to this paper let alone "top" ones. They seem knowledgeable re: AI but I question if they have the combined experience to actually make an iota of an undergrad-worthy Theoretical Macroeconomic study. They might have good AI predictions but one guy with an MBA cannot just make economic predictions/models, that's completely outside their wheelhouse. That requires a lot of knowledge they didn't study (and no one else was credited, just "thanked" for discussions) and so they have no idea of all the factors re: their big gap to create a serious attempt. I think this was a stunt to boost their name recognition when many people are actively afraid of AI (for good reason) and apparently the media ran with it or something? There are unscrupulous "Science" Journals who will go with amateurish idiocy like this for clicks. Don't believe a word of the paper, I checked: their methodology is completely flawed.

Just refuse AI instead. 

Sorry @Ladle Ghoulash, done this for too many years  It's in me bones, even though it was a long while ago. Love ya and sorry 

Edited August 19 by Apec

[Kayioshka 3,477]

Ai is a bitsh, I will insult Chagpt for this 

Edited August 18 by Kayioshka

[Natalia Kills 428]

Yeah, it’s going to result in some massive social and economic changes. 

I never buy the idea of AI actually being able to replace jobs rather than eliminate them. It does create new ones but at a much lower rate than the ones it’s eliminating. 

My CEO is forcing us to have AI assessments as part of our yearly reviews. If you aren’t using AI to actually eliminate processes, you’re underperforming.

No raises unless you’re actually using it to replace your work. We’re also not hiring anymore, the staffing financials are instead funneled into our AI licenses.

I get the efficiency perspective but some of it is excessive and I’ve found it only really does well when you use it in the area you’re an expert in.

Otherwise, it creates a dangerous level of competent-looking slop that causes more drama. And a lot of people use it that way by assuming it’s an expert.

This can’t really go on forever though, eventually enough people will be out of work that it kills consumer demand. 

[elegidadedios 5,072]

On 8/17/2026 at 9:04 AM, PartySick said:

It's kind of common sense. No jobs means no money means no purchasing means a stagnant and dying economy.

AI could be incredible. A tool for employees to use to supplement their own work rather than for employers to replace employees with.

We'll either learn the value of humans (lmao) or go down

It's the last phase of savage capitalism, can't wait for it to happen so capitalism comes to an end and a better order gets in YAY