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A friend who works at Meta recently sent me an image of a little blue flag with the accompanying text: “Marked Safe From Layoffs … Today.”
That type of gallows humor must be common at the world’s largest tech firms at the moment. This week, Meta and Microsoft announced plans to shrink their respective workforces by 10% and 7%. At the same time, both companies are determined to plow ahead with massive investments in artificial intelligence. Coincidence?
“How we understand these layoffs depends on what we think AI is, and what implications it will have,” explain tech sector experts Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter. They argue that the binary view of AI either killing off tech jobs or being unjustly blamed for necessary cuts is a little unnuanced. Rather, Riemer and Peter offer a third position in which tech firms, faced with uncertainty over AI, are trying to create a little workplace pressure. “It’s not a bet that AI will do everything, but that the pressure will force humans to work out how to use AI to increase productivity,” they write. In a separate article, Toby Walsh, author “Machines Behaving Badly,” lays out the
evidence of AI not as job killer, but as a potential bank robber.
[Want more on how artificial intelligence is changing society? Sign up to our weekly AI newsletter.]
Elsewhere this week we have been trawling through Stasi files as we remember the Chernobyl disaster and pondering: Is war in Iran now unwinnable?
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Matt Williams
Senior International Editor – New York
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Dimitri Otis / Getty Images
Kai Riemer, University of Sydney; Sandra Peter, University of Sydney
Three ways to think about AI, massive job cuts, and the future of work.
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Bamo Nouri, City St George's, University of London; Inderjeet Parmar, City St George's, University of London
But the longer it continues the more damage it does to the whole world.
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Robert James Nicholls, University of East Anglia; Marjolijn Haasnoot, Utrecht University; Piero Lionello, University of Salento
As sea levels rise, Venice’s options are running out. New research shows that even the most ambitious engineering may only delay the inevitable.
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John N. Trey Rogers, Michigan State University; Jackie Lyn A. Guevara, Michigan State University; John Sorochan, University of Tennessee; Ryan Bearss, Michigan State University
The new playing fields are rolling out in stadiums from Mexico to Canada. Creating the perfect pitch in very different climates requires the right grasses and some creative tricks.
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Lauren Cassidy, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Once classified files from East Germany reveal the extent of Soviet actions to hide the true extent of catastrophe.
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Jim Smith, University of Portsmouth
Is radiation really changing Chornobyl’s dogs? It’s a great story, but not supported by evidence.
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James Horncastle, Simon Fraser University
Increased and effective Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure have prevented Russia from effectively exploiting higher oil prices.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation
Hebrew studies expert Yaron Peleg tells The Conversation Weekly how Israel’s self‑image change from self‑reliance to aggressive militarism.
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Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva, Australian National University
The global south is clearly becoming more relevant in today’s power politics. Just how these nations choose to exert their influence remains to be seen.
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Krystal Tolley, University of Johannesburg
Three of the four new chameleon species found in Mozambique are probably at high risk of extinction.
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Liz Evans, University of Tasmania
Iconic 90s bass players Melissa Auf Der Maur (Hole) and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) chronicle a time characterised by messy humanity, low-level trust and delicate egos.
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