Will AI take your job? Or will it transform the way you work? | 60 Minutes
In a Nutshell
AI is already eliminating entry-level and repetitive tasks across industries while creating new roles that are mostly unstable gig work rather than reliable full-time jobs. Companies are reducing headcount dramatically as AI handles research, drafting, and analysis, leaving young workers especially vulnerable and threatening community stability. Without deliberate policy choices to build AI that augments humans rather than replaces them, mass unemployment could triple within a decade.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
This past week in Washington, America's tech titans met with President Trump to discuss the future of humanity, specifically whether artificial intelligence will mark the end of civilization as we know it. A more immediate concern is whether AI will take jobs. US companies have cited AI as the number one reason for layoffs this year. AI doesn't sleep or take sick days, prompting questions about whether this technology will transform work like previous workplace revolutions or create a great job apocalypse.
Merkore operates from a nondescript office in downtown San Francisco, where twenty-somethings are designing the future of workplaces. The company grew from 20 people in January of the previous year to 400 people in San Francisco. Brendan Foody, the 23-year-old CEO, became a billionaire when the company reached multi-billion dollar status. Four years ago, when ChatGPT came out, Foody and his two high school co-founders recognized that AI needed more information than what was available on the internet to improve. AI shifted from a high-powered search engine to handling complex fields like astrophysics.
Human intelligence powers AI's transformation. When major AI companies want to improve ChatGPT or Claude in specific fields, they hire Merkore to train their models. The company has assembled an army of more than 100,000 freelancers across subjects including finance, architecture, and poetry. Three experts interviewed include Shauna Miller, a winemaker; Robbie Heiser, a music producer; and Melania Punacha, a physician. These trainers work on tasks like teaching AI to interpret laboratory results or providing feedback on different versions of song lyrics.
All three trainers maintain full-time jobs with AI training as a side gig. Heiser believes great songwriting will always require the human touch, noting that AI lacks life experience and has never experienced events like a girlfriend breaking up. Real-life inputs that impact songwriting cannot be programmed into robots.
Foody foresees a utopia where advanced AI helps cure cancer and tackle climate change, liberating millions of workers from dull job aspects and making them more productive. When asked if jobs are safe from AI, Foody emphasizes examining whether increased productivity creates more demand for human expertise. He argues that while repetitive tasks may change, evolution of work is natural and people will find other things to do.
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, a Columbus, Ohio law firm established in 1909, has implemented AI tools. Partner Kim Hurley, a trial lawyer, uses AI to help prepare opening statements but notes AI will never walk into courtrooms. The firm worked with Stanford University to build an internal tool featuring individual AI personas trained on senior lawyers' thinking patterns and advice. Hurley has her own AI persona that provides notes on draft opening statements, commenting that legal phrasing may be too stiff for jury presentations.
Hurley demonstrates that AI functions as a word document rather than robots or avatars. When asked about future scenarios where clients might go directly to AI models, she finds it difficult to envision, arguing AI cannot replace fundamentally human business where clients want to look their lawyer in the eye for advice.
Despite optimistic views, research shows concerning trends for AI-exposed jobs. Software developer hiring has slowed and wages have declined, with particular impact on twenty-somethings. Clara Shai, who previously oversaw major AI divisions at Salesforce and Meta, observed that tasks traditionally assigned to young people—like market research or creating first drafts of memos—are now being done effectively by AI. Companies have reduced from requiring dozens of people for product development to needing only one to three people using AI agents.
Shai became so alarmed by workforce implications that she quit her tech job to found a nonprofit helping young people navigate the new economy. She warns AI will profoundly impact every profession, particularly roles involving information preparation, research, and data analysis. Job loss extends beyond employment to affect people's sense of self-worth and community stability. Shai draws parallels to her family's experience immigrating from Hong Kong to Ohio in the 1980s, where globalization hollowed out factories and neighborhoods.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans fear AI is coming for jobs. Tech companies have shifted messaging, with OpenAI's Sam Altman stating the industry underestimated how much people would remain central to the economy. Critics argue AI labs have incentives to sell their work to the public and don't actually believe AI won't hurt jobs.
Merkore trainers earn $20 to $200 per hour. However, interviews with over a dozen current and former trainers revealed that gig work comes unpredictably and doesn't substitute for full-time jobs with benefits. Hours are erratic compared to the predictability and stability many experts have in their primary fields. While Merkore claims transparency about part-time work and ensures high-performing experts have available work, it remains supplemental income rather than stable employment.
AI training has become America's fourth fastest-growing job category on LinkedIn. Foody insists he's creating careers of the future, citing that top economists predict more jobs in ten years than today. However, Daron Acemoglu, Nobel Prize-winning MIT professor studying technology's labor impact, disagrees, arguing current trajectories won't create sufficient employment. He notes AI development is unprecedented compared to the 80-year first industrial revolution, occurring in one to two years across many sectors simultaneously.
When presented with claims that certain human activities like law and music production are fundamentally human and cannot be performed by robots, Acemoglu acknowledges this is true today but questions what AI will be capable of in 15 years. He dismisses suggestions that training AI models will create significant employment for displaced workers, noting the number of people employed in such positions is small relative to those replaced—the fundamental point of automation.
Acemoglu warns unemployment could triple in the next decade without intervention. While not advocating against technology, he emphasizes that every technological revolution involves pushback taking various forms. His suggestions include designing AI that makes humans better rather than expendable, and implementing tax codes incentivizing hiring real people. The window for action is closing, and Acemoglu fears for societal stability if current trends continue.
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