Geoffrey Hinton, nicknamed the “godfather of artificial intelligence”, says that some areas are safer than others when it comes to being replaced by artificial intelligence, writes Entrepreneur. Who should be worried?
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Geoffrey Hinton, 78, was a pioneer of artificial intelligence. In 2012, Dr. Hinton and two of his graduates from the University of Toronto created a technology that became the intellectual basis for the artificial intelligence systems that the largest companies in the technological industry consider the key to their future. In fact, he was distinguished with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2024 for his contributions in automatic learning and is currently an emeritus professor at the University of Toronto.
“A man and assistant will do the work of ten people”
“I think, in the case of routine intellectual work, the AI will simply replace everyone,” Hinton said in a recent interview, given to the podcast “Diary of a CEO”, recently broadcast, explaining that the AI has the potential to trigger mass unemployment. By “Routine intellectual work” He refers to office jobs. He said that the replacement will not necessarily be total, but in the form of a “man and assistant” who will do the things that “ten people” did.
“If I worked in a call center, I would be terrified”
In fact, he confessed that if he had now worked in a call center, he would be “terrified”, against the background of automation. However, he stressed that physical work will be harder to replace. “I think it will take long until the AI is as good in physical manipulation,” Hinton said. “So, a safe choice would be to become an installer.”
Far from creating opportunities, the AI could leave those with medium training without options. Only highly qualified posts seem “safe”. Also in the podcast, Hinton has contradicted the frequent idea that the AI will automatically generate new jobs. If intellectual tasks are automated, he says, “There will be not too many things to do for people.”. “You will have to be extremely qualified to have a job that the AI cannot do”, Hinton added.
The impact is already seen
According to the quoted source, the AI could lead to an increased decrease in employment, especially in the beginning positions. A report published last month by the Capital Risk Capital Signalfire shows that the big Tech companies have significantly reduced graduates, their percentage to companies such as Meta and Google decreased by 25% between 2023 and 2024, reaching only 7% in 2024.
And the impact is not limited to the Tech sector. Wall Street also experiences the effects of automation. In March, Morgan Stanley announced the dismissal of 2,000 employees, with the intention of replacing some of them with Ai, according to a source quoted by Reuters.
A report published in January by Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that AI could take over 200,000 dismissals in 93 big banks, including Citigroup and JPMorgan.
