Farming vs. podcast bros: Sam Altman predicts jobs will continue to evolve to look 'sillier and sillier'
Subsistence farmers were just trying to survive. They weren't trying to make content.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts that just as silly as a podcast bro would appear to our long-ago ancestors, current jobs will seem equally foreign after artificial intelligence upends the workforce.
"Like, podcast bro was not a real job not that long ago, and you figured out how to monetize it and you're doing great and we're all happy for you," Altman told his brother Jack, teasing him during an interview on Jack Altman's "Uncapped" podcast. "But would like the subsistence farmer look at this this a job or is like you playing a game to entertain yourself?"
"I think they would subscribe to this podcast," Jack said in response.
Jack Altman, who runs his own VC firm, Alt Capital, quizzed his older brother about a wide range of topics, including the OpenAI CEO's thoughts on Meta's competition in the AI space (he doesn't think the tech giant is "good at innovation), what life will be like will robots roam the streets, and the gua sha lymphatic massage Jack received right before the interview.
Data already shows that AI is taking jobs. Shopify and Duolingo's executives have asked their managers to justify why AI couldn't fill new roles. One economist found that the share of AI-doable tasks in online job postings has decreased by 19%.
During their discussion, Jack Altman said that customer service-related jobs are already being replaced.
Sam Altman says he's not afraid of this looming upheaval, because society has shown a limitless potential to adapt, even if "a lot of jobs go away" and their replacements appear "sillier and sillier looking from our current perspective."
"We have always been really good at figuring out new things to do, and ways to occupy ourselves, and status games or ways to be useful to each other," Altman said, "And I'm like not a believer that that ever runs out."
The changes, Altman said, will also be less dramatic for the next generation, which will grow up not knowing what life was like before.
"It's not going to ever seem to weird to him," Altman said of his son. "He's just going to grow up in a world where, of course, computers are smarter than him. He'll just figure out how to use them incredibly fluently and do amazing stuff."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TechCrunch
25 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Week in Review: Meta reveals its Oakley smart glasses
Welcome back to Week in Review! Lots in store for you today, including Wix's latest acquisition, Meta's new smart glasses, a look at the new Digg, and much more. Have a great weekend! Smart specs: Meta and Oakley have teamed up on a new pair of smart glasses that can record 3K video, play music, handle calls, and respond to Meta AI prompts. They start at $399 and have double the battery life of Meta's Ray-Bans. A $499 limited-edition Oakley Meta HSTN model will be available starting July 11. Unicorn watch: Wix bought 6-month-old solo startup Base44 for $80 million in cash after it quickly gained traction as a no-code AI tool for building web apps. Created by a single founder and already profitable, Base44's rapid rise made scooping it up irresistible. Sand to the rescue: Finland just turned on the world's largest sand battery — yes, actual sand — which stores heat to help power the small town of Pornainen's heating system and cut its carbon emissions. The low-tech, low-cost system is built from discarded fireplace soapstone, is housed in a giant silo, and can store heat for weeks, proving you don't need fancy lithium to fight climate change. You just need a pile of hot rocks. This is TechCrunch's Week in Review, where we recap the week's biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. News Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan We're back, baby: VanMoof is back from the brink with the S6, its first e-bike since bankruptcy — and it's sticking to its signature custom design, despite that being what nearly killed the company. Backed by McLaren tech and a beefed-up repair network, the new VanMoof promises smoother rides, smarter features, and (hopefully) fewer stranded cyclists. Space lasers: Baiju Bhatt, best known for co-founding Robinhood, is now building lasers in space. His new startup, Aetherflux, has raised $60 million to prove that beaming solar power from orbit isn't a fantasy, with a demo satellite set to launch next year and early backing from the Department of Defense. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Oh no: One of SpaceX's Starship rockets exploded during a test in Texas, likely pushing back the vehicle's next launch, which had been tentatively set for June 29. SpaceX says the blast, caused by a pressurized tank failure, didn't injure anyone, but it's yet another setback in a rocky year for the company's ambitious mega-rocket program. That lossless feeling: Spotify's long-awaited lossless audio tier still hasn't launched, but fresh hints buried in the latest app code suggest that it's under active development and could be closer than ever. But with years of delays and no official timeline, fans might want to temper their excitement until Spotify confirms the rollout. I can Digg it: Digg's reboot has entered alpha testing with a fresh iOS app aimed at becoming an AI-era Reddit alternative. The app offers a clean, simple design with curated communities, AI-powered article summaries, and gamified features like 'Gems' and daily leaderboards. We want you: The U.S. Navy is speeding up how it works with startups, cutting red tape and zeroing in on real wins like saved time and better morale. Department of the Navy CTO Justin Fanelli says it's leading with problems, hunting for game-changing tech in AI, GPS, and system upgrades. And with Silicon Valley finally paying attention, the Navy's becoming a go-to partner for innovators ready to shake things up. Cash ain't king: Mark Zuckerberg is throwing out massive cash — up to $100 million — to lure top AI talent from OpenAI and DeepMind. But OpenAI's Sam Altman says none of his key people have bitten, praising his team's mission over money. Meanwhile, OpenAI keeps pushing ahead with new AI models and even hints at launching an AI-powered social app that could outpace Meta's own shaky attempts. Before you go Image Credits:Cluely San Francisco's latest startup saga? Cluely's after-party for YC's AI Startup School blew up on Twitter, drawing 2,000 party crashers, but it became the 'most legendary party that never happened' after getting shut down by cops before a single drink was spilled. Founder Roy Lee's viral marketing may have promised chaos, but the real party's waiting. Maybe once the weather warms up?
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Meta Discussed Buying Perplexity Before Investing in Scale
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. held discussions with artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity AI Inc. about a possible takeover before moving ahead with a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI, according to people familiar with the matter. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown The two companies couldn't come to an agreement and decided not to pursue the deal, said the people, who asked not to be named as the details of the talks aren't public. The financial terms under discussion could not be learned. Perplexity recently closed a new round of funding at a $14 billion valuation. Meta also attempted to hire Perplexity Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas to join the social media company's new 'superintelligence' team, which is focused on building more powerful AI systems, the people said. The talks with Meta, which have not previously been reported, highlight Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's willingness to use deals and big hires to catch up in the AI race. The talks took place before Meta finalized a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI that gives it a 49% stake in the data-labeling startup. Meta and Perplexity didn't respond to requests for comment. Founded in 2022, Perplexity has emerged as one of the most prominent startups using generative AI to rethink core internet services. Perplexity is taking on Alphabet Inc.'s Google by offering an AI tool that summarizes search results, lists citations for its answers and helps users refine their queries to get the best responses. The startup is also developing an AI-powered web browser. Frustrated with the pace of Meta's AI development, Zuckerberg is making a concerted push to poach top AI talent from across the industry with lucrative pay packages. Meta has succeeded in hiring Scale AI's former CEO Alexandr Wang, as well as top researchers from Google DeepMind and Sesame AI Inc. Not everyone is jumping to join Meta, however. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast this week that some on his staff had been approached by Meta with offers of $100 million signing bonuses and even bigger compensation packages, but had declined to join the company. Meta has been in talks with former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to recruit him to the new team, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has also been working on hiring Daniel Gross, the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, a research lab founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, the person said. Meta has also held early discussions for a computing deal in which Safe Superintelligence would use Meta's data center infrastructure, the person said. Representatives for Safe Superintelligence did not immediately respond to request for comment. Other Big Tech firms, including Google and Inc, have tried to establish themselves as the backbone of the AI ecosystem by providing chips and cloud computing resources to artificial intelligence startups. Meta has not gone this route to date. --With assistance from Julia Love. (Story updated with new details on Meta's hiring efforts starting in the third paragraph.) Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Social Media Hotbed For Investment Scams, Romance Scams And More
AFP via Getty Images According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) more scams in the United States are started on social media than anywhere else at a cost of 1.9 billion dollars in 2024 and that figure is probably low because many victims, often out of embarrassment, do not report being victimized. A study done by the Fin Tech company Revolut found that 60% of all scams in the UK originated on the Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp with investment scams being the most common form of scam. Woody Malouf, Revolut's head of financial crime section said that Meta's platforms were 'being used as a hotbed for scams.' The most common types of scams originating on social media are online shopping scams, investment scams and romance scams which are often based on our trusting the people we encounter as friends on social media. Remember my motto, "trust me, you can't trust anyone." Frequently, social media accounts are hacked or cloned and the scammers, posing as your friends, leverage the trust that you have in your friends to lure you into phony investments, phony sales and romances. Further, even if a communication on social media comes from a real friend, that friend may be forwarding scams that they have been fooled into thinking are legitimate. Scammers use AI to harvest information about you that you post on social media to learn about your identity and interests and use that information to target you with a wide variety of scams. According to an investigation done by the Wall Street Journal, Meta with its 3 billion users is increasingly a cornerstone of the internet fraud economy. Meta accounted for almost half of all reported scams on Zelle for JPMorgan Chase between the summers of 2023 and 2024. The Wall Street Journal investigation noted that Meta's advertising revenues increased by 22% in 2024 to more than $160 billion and the company has been hesitant to add scam prevention measures for its ad-buying clients. The investigation referred to internal documents at Meta showed the company allowed advertisers to accrue between 8 and 32 automated 'strikes' for financial fraud before it banned their accounts. Making the matter worse, Meta's advertising algorithms and tools enable scammers placing paid for ads on Meta's platforms to specifically target their victims, such as older users with health scams, men between the ages of 25 and 45 with investment scams particularly those involving cryptocurrencies, and fans of celebrities with AI deepfake celebrity endorsement scams. For example, AI deepfake technology has been used to make it appear that Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Andrew Sorkin and other public figures were promoting phony investments. Recently, 42 state attorneys general sent a letter to Meta urging it to take stronger action to reduce investment scam advertising appearing on Meta's platforms The attorneys generals recommended that Meta improve its ad review process and even stop taking investment advertising until better protections were in place. While Meta says it is taking actions to reduce fraud, its actions speak louder than its words. According to the WSJ investigation, Meta deprioritized scam enforcement and abandoned plans for advertiser verification requirements similar to what it mandates for political ads. Meta has further taken the position in Motions to Dismiss in various cases that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides that it has no duty to take any actions to reduce fraudulent advertisements placed by third parties on its platforms and cannot be held responsible for advertising placed by third parties on its platforms. This argument has been unsuccessful, most recently in a Motion to Dismiss a lawsuit brought by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest who sued Meta following its failure to remove fraudulent investment ads using his image and AI cloned voice. Meanwhile, here are some things you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim of a social media scam: Don't accept friend requests from everyone who asks to be your friend on social media and don't trust communications on social media merely because they appear to come from your friends. Recognize that personal information you post on social media can be harvested to target you for scams based on your interests. Use your privacy settings to limit who can see the information you post on social media. Remember it is good rule to never click on links that may appear on social media, text messages or emails unless you have absolutely confirmed that they are legitimate. Never invest in anything you do not fully understand and never invest unless you have vetted both the investment itself and the person or company offering it. Finally, B.S. Be skeptical whenever an offer of anything too good to be true appears on your social media.
