Mass unemployment is innetivable, and we are already seeing widespread devastation in the software engineering space, which is quite ironic all things considered.
Our tech team at work leads cyber security for the british government, including safety protocols and algorithms for the Trident systems... during covid, we had job openings on the software engineering team taking months to fill.
This last few months, they had 2 senior engineer jobs and received 45,000 applications. Forty five thousand. Absolutely insane, and if that doesn't worry you, you need to prepare fast.
There are a lot of people out of work already. The rapid adoption of AI will absolutely destabilize global economies by causing mass unemployment, undermining consumer spending, and widening inequality. As AI automates not just manual labor but white-collar and creative jobs, millions could find themselves displaced with few alternatives. Without sufficient regulatory frameworks or redistribution policies, wealth and power could concentrate in the hands of a few tech monopolies, further eroding the middle class. As demand collapses, traditional economic models based on consumer growth may fail, triggering financial crises, political unrest, and widespread systemic instability. Nations unable to adapt could face economic collapse, and global supply chains could fracture under the pressure.
You can absolutely guranttee civil unrest, and far worse if the issue is not taken seriously. This is the biggest 'industrial revolution' we have ever seen. It's going to hit one industry at a time, almost like that grim reaper knocking on doors meme. Once major industry leaders start to use AI they realise they can fire a lot of people and become more profitable, it is as simple as that. Very very few industries are safe. Manual labour perhaps, but the thing is, if consumer spending completely collapses from everyone being out of work, even the manual labour jobs will suddenly run into supply and demand problems, leading to even more unemployment. If there are not enough consumers to buy things and pay for services, it doesnt matter if a robot can replace you or not, there is no market to be had.