On this jobs report Friday, we are reminded that many of the jobs created last month may not even exist a decade from now as generative AI takes hold in businesses large and small.
Or at least this writer is thinking along those dreary lines.
HP Inc. (HPQ) CEO Enrique Lores told Yahoo Finance Live that workers should be prepared for disruption.
Number crunchers at Goldman Sachs think the job market will be borderline shocked by the advances in AI.
Generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million jobs globally to automation over the next decade, the investment bank estimated in a recent piece of research. That's a nice way of saying a person may lose their job to a robot.
The upshot is that more robots doing tasks should boost the productivity of businesses and, by extension, the economy. After all, robots don't need time off.
Goldman predicts US labor productivity will grow by 1.5% over a 10-year period following the widespread adoption of generative AI. AI could also eventually increase the annual global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 7%.
"Despite significant uncertainty around the potential of generative AI, its ability to generate content that is indistinguishable from human-created output and to break down communication barriers between humans and machines reflects a major advancement with potentially large macroeconomic effects," said Jan Hatzius, the report's lead author and Goldman chief economist.
As for HP, AI will naturally change how the company goes about creating, manufacturing, and selling PCs and printers. More robots — and perhaps a faster pace of innovation — done more profitably.
Lores also thinks new high-powered computer chips that support new AI will require a major PC reset, beginning in earnest in 2024.
"I think we all will have to learn the new technology," Lores said. "We'll have to be proficient at it because this will be the only way to continue to add value and to create value. And this is true at all levels of the company. I will have to learn. You will have to learn it."
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on the banking crisis? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com
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