Latest news with #MoGawdat
News18
3 hours ago
- Business
- News18
Former Google Executive Predicts AI Will Eliminate Jobs, Lead To Middle Class Collapse By 2027
Last Updated: Mo Gawdat, who served as Google's Chief Business Officer, highlights how AI-powered automation will eliminate various professional roles, including software engineers. TCS, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other leading companies worldwide have recently undergone significant layoffs. These companies have let go of thousands of employees, with some dismissing 12,000 and others 15,000 workers at once. The primary reason for these layoffs is attributed to the rise of AI, which can complete tasks in less time than humans typically need. Mo Gawdat, a former Google employee, has advised caution regarding Artificial Intelligence or AI. Mo Gawdat, in his podcast 'Diary of a CEO,' has made a dire prediction, warning that the period until 2027 will be particularly challenging. He believes AI will bring significant changes, potentially leading to the collapse of the middle class. 'Unless you're in the top 0.1%, you're a peasant. There is no middle class," he said. Previously, Mo Gawdat offered special advice to married youth on this podcast, recommending those who haven't planned for a baby to wait due to the impending job losses AI will cause. He now predicts that by 2027, even highly educated individuals may become unemployed, which could result in a new global class structure heavily impacting the current middle class. Mo Gawdat, who served as Google's Chief Business Officer, highlights how AI-powered automation will eliminate various professional roles, including software engineers, chief executives, and podcasters. He describes the beginning of 2027 as 'hell before we get to heaven.' His AI-enabled relationship start-up, operates with just three employees, whereas such a setup previously required at least 350 people. Gawdat explains that while industrialisation replaced manual labor in the past, AI automation now threatens the employment of educated individuals, leading to mental health issues and isolation. People may gradually lose their professional expertise. By 2040, a new world order focused on creativity, community, and spirituality will emerge. However, he stresses that governments should regulate universal basic income and AI-driven development. Earlier, a Microsoft research suggested that within the next five years, 80% of jobs across various sectors will be lost due to AI, which will replace human intelligence and manpower. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Business
- Indian Express
‘AI will be better than humans at everything,' warns former Google executive; says ‘In 15 years, lots of jobs will be lost, including…'
Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer at Google X, has given a blunt prediction about the future of artificial intelligence. In a conversation on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he said the rise of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could wipe out most human jobs within 15 years, with the middle class being hit the hardest. 'Unless you're in the top 0.1%, you're a peasant,' he said. 'AGI will be better at everything than humans, even being a CEO.' How do you contain something that's a billion times smarter than you? Mo Gawdat is back, his fifth appearance on The Diary Of A CEO and possibly his most important one yet. Mo was Chief Business Officer at Google X, so when he talks about the future of humanity and AI, I… — Steven Bartlett (@StevenBartlett) August 4, 2025 Drawing on his own experience, Gawdat pointed to his startup, — an AI-powered emotional and relationship platform run by just three people. In the past, he noted, a similar business would have needed hundreds of developers. 'As a matter of fact, podcaster is going to be replaced,' he added, highlighting how even creative and personal industries won't be spared. Unlike previous technological revolutions that mainly displaced manual labour, Gawdat believes this shift will cut through white-collar jobs and erode the economic foundation of modern societies. However, he also offered a glimpse of what could follow: a post-2040 world free from repetitive work and material obsession, where people focus on community, creativity, spirituality, and love. Achieving that vision, he stressed, will require governments and companies to act now, through measures like universal basic income and the ethical development of AI. 'We are headed into a short-term dystopia, but we can still decide what comes after that,' he told host Steven Bartlett, insisting that regulation and equal access to AI will be critical in shaping the outcome. Gawdat's cautionary stance echoes other AI leaders' concerns. Geoffrey Hinton, often called the 'Godfather of AI,' recently warned that advanced AI systems might evolve their own internal language, one humans can't interpret. 'If they start thinking in their own language,' Hinton said, 'we might not even know what they're thinking.'
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘You're a peasant': Ex-Google executive exposes grim AI reality
Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer at Google X, has a grim prediction about the future of AI. Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Gawdat warned that the world as we know it would soon be looking very different with the AI revolution. The 58-year-old engineer believes that reaching artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be as early as 2027. For those unacquainted, AGI refers to the point in which artificial intelligence can match the ability and understanding of any task that a human can do. It's at this point, Mr Gawdat warns, that the world would see mass job losses, as AI would be capable of replacing most knowledge-based jobs. Such jobs on the line include podcasters, software engineers, even CEOs. 'AGI will get better at everything, including being a CEO,' he said. He references his own start-up company as an example: Emma Love, which is currently only operating with three people, including himself, and a whole lot of AI. The big thing to note here is the use of AI. Mr Gawdat says the work being done currently would have required 350 developers in the past. He describes the period of adjusting to an AGI civilisation as an unavoidable 'short-term dystopia', and predicts it could be a reality within just two years. It's not just mass job losses we'll see either - the former Google executive warns there could be an increase in world warfare, social unrest, and a massive distribution of power that will eliminate the middle class. 'Unless you're in the top 0.1%, you're a peasant,' Mr Gawdat said. 'There is no middle class.' But while it may all seem big and scary, Mr Gawdat pointed out an upside to a post-AGI civilisation. 'But the truth is it could be the best world ever,' he said. 'The society completely full of laughter and joy. 'Free healthcare, no jobs, spending more time with their loved ones. A world where all of us are equal.' It's a sentiment shared by Nobel prizewinner and head of Google's Deepmind, Demis Hassabis, who believes that the future is more utopian than anything. He estimates reaching AGI will likely occur at some point in the next five to ten years, a bit further than Gawdat's 2027. 'Assuming we steward it safely and responsibly into the world, and obviously we're trying to play our part in that, then we should be in a world of what I sometimes call radical abundance,' he said to The Guardian. 'It should lead to incredible productivity and therefore prosperity for society. 'Of course, we've got to make sure it gets distributed fairly, but that's more of a political question. 'And if it is, we should be in an amazing world of abundance for maybe the first time in human history, where things don't have to be zero sum.' And while Mr Hassabis points to current global issues that could be addressed through breakthroughs in medicine, nuclear fusion and material innovation, we wouldn't blame you for keeping a healthy dose of scepticism. After all, in the past few years, we've seen so many issues around AI it would be imprudent to keep a blind eye: the rise of deepfakes and misinformation, the carbon footprint of large language models, security risks, to name a few. But Mr Hassabis remains hopeful. 'I'm a cautious optimist,' he said. 'So overall, if we're given the time, I believe in human ingenuity. I think we'll get this right. 'I think also, humans are infinitely adaptable. 'I mean, look where we are today. 'Our brains were evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and we're in modern civilisation. 'The difference here is, it's going to be 10 times bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and maybe 10 times faster.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Former Google executive issues bleak warning for next '15 years of dystopia' - and it won't be because of AI
A terrifying societal collapse worthy of Hollywood can never be entirely ruled out. But according to one former Google executive, it may come a lot sooner than we expected. Mo Gawdat, a tech entrepreneur and author who spent 11 years at Google, has given a bleak warning about the near-future of society. Speaking with The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Gawdat said we'll be living in a dystopia in just two years' time. Sounding worthy of George Orwell's novel '1984', the dystopia will last up to 15 years, the expert said. And the direct cause will be humans rather than artificial intelligence (AI). 'We will have to prepare for a world that is very unfamiliar,' Mr Gawdat told the podcast's host Steven Bartlett. 'We are going to hit a short-term dystopia – there's no escaping that.' Speaking with The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Gawdat said there will be huge societal change in the next few years In the filmed interview, Mr Gawdat describes a dystopia as 'adverse circumstances that unfortunately might escalate beyond our control'. This upcoming dystopia, he adds, will begin in 2027 and last for 12-15 years until the late 2030s, but 'we will see escalating signs next year'. And the period will 'completely change' freedom, accountability, human connection, inequality, economics, reality, innovation and power. Rather than AI itself, the dystopia will be caused by the failing 'morality of humanity' in the age of the rise of AI – a subtle but important distinction. 'Bad actors' – humans rather than machines – will be using AI for nefarious means like fooling citizens, invading their privacy, swindling their money and much more. The result will be a society where there is great injustice, with a 'massive concentration of power' in the hands of a select few corrupt figures. On a more positive note, Mr Gawdat added that there will be a long-term 'utopia' after the 15-year period where everything is just about perfect. But first, society will have to get over the impending 'hump'. Elsewhere in the interview, he said the belief AI will create new jobs is '100 per cent crap' – as everything from top- to bottom-level roles will be taken over. AI is 'going to be better than humans at everything, including being a CEO,' he said, adding: 'There will be a time where most incompetent CEOs will be replaced.' He continued: 'Everything we produce can be produced by an AI.' Some of the most skilled jobs, like an architect designing a custom house for a client, will be achieved by AI tools akin to ChatGPT without the cost. Mr Gawdat then asked the host: 'How many more years do you think I will be able to create a book that's smarter than AI? Not many.' Mr Gawdat knows a thing or two about emerging technologies, having trained as an engineer and worked at rival tech giants Microsoft, IBM and NCR Corporation. Between 2007 and 2013, he served as vice president for Google in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa – a role responsible for Google's 'multi-billion dollar business and overall success'. He then served as chief business officer for Google X – the tech giant's secretive research and development lab for emerging technologies – between 2013 and 2018. Since leaving Google seven years ago, he has hosted his own podcasts and authored books spanning topics such as AI, stress and happiness. This year, he began writing a new book that delves into the 'far-reaching' impact of AI on human life and challenges 'our understanding of what it truly means to be alive'. He is also founder of One Billion Happy, an organisation founded to promote happiness following the tragic death of his son, Ali. His entire two hour, 34 minute filmed conversation has been published on The Diary of a CEO's YouTube channel. Half of current jobs will be taken over by AI within 15 years, one of China 's leading AI experts has warned. Kai-Fu Lee, the author of bestselling book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.' 'People aren't really fully aware of the effect AI will have on their jobs,' he said. Lee, who is a VC in China and once headed up Google in the region, has over 30 years of experience in AI. He believes it is imperative to 'warn people there is displacement coming, and to tell them how they can start retraining.' Luckily, he said all is not lost for humanity. 'AI is powerful and adaptable, but it can't do everything that humans do.' Lee believe AI cannot create, conceptualize, or do complex strategic planning, or undertake complex work that requires precise hand-eye coordination. He also says it is poor at dealing with unknown and unstructured spaces.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AI is gutting workforces—and an ex-Google exec says CEOs are too busy ‘celebrating' their efficiency gains to see they're next
Google X's former chief business officer Mo Gawdat says the notion AI will create jobs is '100% crap,' and even warns that 'incompetent CEOs' are on the chopping block. The tech guru predicts that AGI will be better at everything than most humans—echoing the likes of Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and OpenAI chief Sam Altman. Only the best workers in their fields will keep their jobs 'for a while,' and even 'evil' government leaders might be replaced by the robots. Tech titans keep insisting that AI will usher in a 'golden era' of humanity, where all illness is cured, people live in abundance, and workers have 'superhuman' powers. But a former Google executive has slammed the notion that the technology won't be a job-killer and will actually create new work for humans. 'My belief is it is 100% crap,' Mo Gawdat, the former chief business officer for Google X, recently said on The Diary of a CEO podcast. 'The best at any job will remain. The best software developer, the one that really knows architecture, knows technology, and so on will stay—for a while.' Gawdat has joined the cohort of leaders waving the red flag that AI will commence a jobs armageddon within the next 5 to 15 years. Companies including Duolingo, Workday, and Klarna have already laid off staffers in droves or stopped hiring humans altogether to get ready for an AI-centric workforce. But executives shouldn't celebrate their efficiency gains too soon—their role is also on the chopping block, Gawdat, who worked in tech for 30 years and now writes books on AI development, cautioned. 'CEOs are celebrating that they can now get rid of people and have productivity gains and cost reductions because AI can do that job. The one thing they don't think of is AI will replace them too,' Gawdat continued. 'AGI is going to be better at everything than humans, including being a CEO. You really have to imagine that there will be a time where most incompetent CEOs will be replaced.' While the vision of human-less companies solely run by robots is incredibly dystopian, the ex-Google executive isn't afraid of what lies ahead. The 58-year-old doesn't see AI being the perpetrator of job loss—money-hungry CEOs are actually to blame for letting the technology take over in the pursuit of financial gain, he claimed. 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with AI—there's a lot wrong with the value set of humanity at the age of the rise of the machines,' Gawdat said. 'And the biggest value set of humanity is capitalism today. And capitalism is all about what? Labor arbitrage.' Fortune reached out to Gawdat for comment. For humans to thrive, 'evil' world leaders need to be replaced by AI AI is already outpacing humans when it comes to some abilities—it can code, resolve customer requests, handle administrative work, and even analyze market figures. There's no telling where its future capabilities lie. Tech leaders like Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and OpenAI chief Sam Altman are adamant it'll outpace even the most powerful people by 2030. And that may be a good thing for humanity: For humans to thrive in this new era, immoral corporate executives and world leaders alike need to be replaced by AI, Gawdat advised. He said that since harmful leaders will use the tech to 'magnify the evil that man can do,' technology will make for more moral world leaders—and that this dystopian scenario of AI-enabled politicians is 'unavoidable'. 'The only way for us to get to a better place, is for the evil people at the top to be replaced with AI,' Gawdat continued on the podcast. '[World leaders] will have to replace themselves [with] AI. Otherwise, they lose their advantage.' Gawdat isn't the only one sounding alarm bells over AI's impact on humanity's future. Altman and Google chief Sundar Pichai have both expressed a need for AI regulation—whether that be 'major governments' drawing a line in the sand, or creating a high-level governance body to oversee potential harm. 'We are likely to eventually need something like an IAEA for superintelligence efforts,' Altman wrote in a 2023 blogpost, adding that AI projects should have to confront an 'international authority that can inspect systems, require audits, test for compliance with safety standards, place restrictions on degrees of deployment and levels of security.' This story was originally featured on Solve the daily Crossword
