Axios CEO Jim VandeHei on Friday warned that artificial intelligence will “reorder society,” further admitting he is alarmed and thrown off by how cavalierly lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are approaching the technology.
VandeHei made the comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” while discussing an Axios story from earlier this week saying AI may lead to a “white-collar bloodbath.”
In the piece, which VandeHei wrote with Axios co-founder Mike Allen, the writers said “AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years,” according to one AI executive.
“I feel like I’m living in a simulation, where you see so clearly where the world’s going over the next five years, and yet Washington pays very little attention to it,” VandeHei told Joe Scarborough on Friday morning. “What we’re saying is: just pay attention.”
He also said he views AI as both a “threat and a massive opportunity,” and that college grads need to be mindful of the industries they are heading into because of it. He added that AI does not have to lead to “massive upheaval,” but he is concerned by the lack of concern shown by other CEOs and lawmakers over the tech’s affect.
AI has been a hot topic in media this week, with several attendees at the Wall Street Journal’s “The Future of Everything” event in New York City sharing their takes on it.
Imagine Entertainment co-founders Ron Howard and Brian Grazer on Wednesday said they are both “excited” by AI and use it as a tool to jumpstart ideas, but Grazer said it will never have the “soul” necessary to replace professional writers.
A day later, OpenAI COO Brian Lightcap said he believes artificial general intelligence — where AI models can perform any intellectual task that humans can — will be reached within the next four years. And Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said during a different panel on Thursday that he believes “the pure software part of Silicon Valley” will have a “reckoning” in the next few years as a result of AI.
