Great read. I agree completely that the job loss to automation is coming fast and people in the US in particular and in the world in general are in for serious upheaval.

Part of the problem is that automation can make things seductively cheap for businesses who implement them, so the rush to market not only neglects the displaced employees but also the customer experience, compliance and safety as well.

I'm amazed at how many large companies (who should know better) opt for poorly designed phone menu systems and web sites. Automation (and development by programmers and other humans in technical roles) relies on carefully thought-out business requirements. Without that pre-work, businesses shoot themselves (and the rest of us) in the foot.

I've heard the Silicon Valley gospel that AI will magically sort all of this complexity. But (at least for now) AI doesn't really do complexity well. What AI does really well is SCALE. And that's what's scary.

Humans will still be needed for the AI training, sustaining and explaining; otherwise there will be consequences similar (but far more severe and damaging) than the Google Photos "is-this-a-dark-skinned-person-or-a-gorilla" fiasco. But unless hiring people for this work becomes cost-effective, most businesses will continue to chase the quick short-term profits by ignoring this need, and the long-term consequences may be dire.

Of course that's one example where humans could be needed for a while (in addition to caregivers for sick and elderly, who should be treated/paid better than they are.) But training and employing a world of $7+ billion with truly useful skills in an automated world is a massive undertaking for which no one today is even close to prepared.