The Impact of AI on the Job Market

I am writing this almost a week after our country experienced one of the worst months in terms of layoffs since 2003. Cuts of 153k (up 175% from this month the year prior) confirmed already notable fears that AI is capable of taking jobs, and in the midst of a shaky stretch for our economy, large corporations will continue to buy in.

It is no surprise that companies have turned to the latest technologies, just as they did during the dot com boom in the mid-90s. However, this is different in a few ways.

The internet helped us become more productive in more ways than many at the time could have imagined, but it didn’t necessarily take jobs away. Instead, it introduced new tools that could accelerate the speed of burdensome, monotonous tasks. Internal and external communication, sales processing, data reports, marketing. These were all tasks that had become much easier in a post-internet landscape, but they still required some amount of man-power. This is the difference between the adoption of the internet and the adoption of AI. Companies are now able to pawn off the remaining man-power tasks to machines that are smarter, more efficient, and of course, cheaper.

By no means do I intend for this to be some fearmongering blog that tells the story of a world where we see machines take over a majority of our jobs. I do not believe in that, and I think we are decades away from a point where hyperscaler infrastructure could handle the amount of compute that would take. What I do believe is that it is more important now than it ever has been to begin learning about the very technology that we will begin to see in every facet of our lives.

What the numbers of the recent layoffs do not reflect is the amount of people who have been onboarded to lead the AI initiatives at these companies. Like I have mentioned in the past, these will be the most important roles at a company in the next five years, and one of the main reasons we began building Luca. We believe everyone should have access to the resources that can get them ready to take on these new roles, regardless of their current technical experience.

Users will have access to in-depth courses curated by teachers and PHD students who teach these concepts at the highest level. Furthermore, companies will be able to select a few “AI Leaders” who will attend one-on-one sessions with these instructors. By doing this, we will help companies to become self-sufficient when it comes to interacting with LLMs, and when they are faced with tough decisions on policy and adding new tools, they will have the resources within to make them. In parallel, the rest of the company will have access to our chatbot interface and a unique RAG system that will be connected to data sources throughout the company. This way users will be able to put their new skills to the test in a work setting, all while finding ways to increase productivity in their current role.

The main goal of Luca is not just to automate tasks, but provide the resources for businesses to succeed in a race where the well-equipped will thrive and the obstinate will fall behind.

Until next time,

Drew