Jon Stewart über KI: „Sie ersetzt uns in der Belegschaft – nicht in der Zukunft, sondern jetzt“

“We have been through technological advances before, and they all have promised a utopian life without drudgery,” Stewart explained. “But the reality is, they come for our jobs. So I want your assurance that AI isn’t removing the human from the loop.”

As Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM put it: “We can get the same work done with fewer people. That’s just the nature of productivity.”

Stewart shook his head with recognition. “So AI can cure diseases and solve climate change, but that’s not exactly what companies are going to be using it for, are they?”

Stewart noted the example of Dukaan, a company that used AI as a reason to lay off 90% of its employees. As the company’s CEO, Suumit Shah, put it on Fox News: “It’s brutal, if you think like a, uh, like a human.”

“‘AI: it’s brutal, if you think like, as a human’ – it’s not the catchiest ad slogan I’ve ever heard,” Stewart remarked.

“So while we wait for this thing to cure diseases and solve climate change, it’s replacing us in the workforce – not in the future, but now,” he added.

Stewart then looked back on how presidents from George HW Bush onwards rationalized the loss of jobs for progress – essentially, by arguing that people should train for new ones and embrace change.

“That’s the game,” he said. “Whether it’s globalization or industrialization or now artificial intelligence, the way of life that you are accustomed to is no match to the promise of more profit and new markets. Which sounds brutal, if you’re a human.

“But at least those other disruptions took place over a century, or decades,” he continued. “AI is going to be ready to take over by Thursday. And once that happens, what the fuck is there left for the rest of us to do?”