Torsten Slok

One, we are seeing anecdotally that many companies are laying off huge numbers of employees and they're saying that they're doing it because of AI.

I think the most recent example would be Block.

They said they were laying off 40%.

Yeah, right.

So maybe there's an AI washing element to it.

but they did say that they're laying off 40% of the workforce.

Amazon has said that they're laying off workers because of AI.

A lot of companies are saying that they're laying off workers because of AI.

And perhaps it is an AI washing scenario where they want to look like they're using AI to turbocharge their businesses.

But at the same time, jobs are being lost.

And for someone who used to work at Block,

and they are now not working at Block, the reality is like, for them, well, it seems like AI took my job, because that's what I've been told.

That's the first thing that I'd like to get your reaction to.

And then the second is your point that even if the science fiction scenario does play out, the Citrini scenario where we're all out of jobs, unemployment rate hits 10, 20%, you made the point that the government at that point would step in.

But I think that there is probably a concern for a lot of Americans, which is that so far, this government and this administration doesn't seem that interested to take any action when it comes to AI.

In fact, the policy that they have proposed is we want to make sure that we actually don't regulate AI.

We want to put a moratorium on states coming up with their own AI legislation.

We want to get out of the way.

So for a lot of Americans, I think that would also inspire a lot of concern, which is, you

Can we really rely on government to figure this all out, to pay us a UBI dividend or to retrain us or reskill us?