Latest news with #InternetRevolution
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F.'s largest employer says bots do ‘50%' of the work. Employees should be worried
As one of San Francisco's more outspoken tech leaders, Marc Benioff is no stranger to media firestorms, provoked by his unflinching stances on homelessness or surprise cheerleading for President Donald Trump. The Salesforce CEO ignited a new controversy on Thursday, when he said during an episode of 'The Circuit with Emily Chang' that artificial intelligence does '30 to 50% of the work' at his cloud computing company. Long a happy warrior for AI, Benioff tried to put a positive spin on its encroachment into his company's workforce culture. With bots taking over labor once performed by humans, he said, the human employees can 'move on to do higher value work.' But given that Salesforce has cut 1,000 positions this year, Benioff's remark stung. Salesforce is extremely influential, both as the city's top employer and a proponent of returning to the office. Benioff is also a highly visible public figure. His championing of robot labor comes at a moment of eviscerating layoffs across the tech industry. Although most companies haven't blamed automation for these cuts, they coincide with a major industry push toward AI. After Thursday's segment aired, immediately drawing more than 100,000 views, people pushed back on social media. A few self-identified Salesforce employees insisted the CEO had exaggerated, and that the human workers at Salesforce are too valuable to be replaced by software. To industry observers, Benioff is just being realistic. 'There's no doubt that AI agents are replacing, and will replace, a substantial chunk of the workforce,' said Professor Saikat Chaudhuri, faculty director of the Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology Program at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Chaudhuri describes this moment as having a similar tectonic effect as the Internet Revolution, which caused pain for print media and brick-and-mortar stores, before opening a new world of possibilities. It became 'something that people had to acknowledge,' Chaudhuri said, making some jobs obsolete but creating new ones. He offered an example from the travel sector. In the old days, people made appointments with human travel agents to plan their vacations, find flights and handle other logistics. By today's standards, the agents were expensive and inefficient, and became anachronisms once online booking took hold. At that point, consumers could plan trips on their own, by doing Internet searches and entering their information into web pages that had to be built by human engineers. Looking ahead, the travel agent could be revived, but not in human form. The new iteration would be a concierge-style AI bot that listens to the consumer's requests and culls flight schedules instantaneously. With booking web pages no longer needed, the engineers are, theoretically, freed up for more creative pursuits. Data gathered by economists at Stanford University corroborates that view, suggesting that Benioff, while bullish on AI deployment, isn't necessarily an outlier. Rather, he's pulling back the curtain on what's actually a widespread practice. Usage spiked over the last two quarters, with 40% of firms across the country now saying they use generative AI at work — up from 30% last December, according to a survey called 'The Labor Market Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence.' 'It's increasing very rapidly, even surprisingly,' said Jon Hartley, a policy fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and lead author of the survey. Silicon Valley executives, in turn, have become more unapologetic about gambling in the technology. During a recent call with shareholders, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang envisioned a future society with 'billions of robots.' At some level, corporations have an incentive to put out these messages, said Jeffrey Hancock, a professor of communication at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab. Over the past few years many businesses have invested heavily in AI programs, and most are seeking some kind of return. They at least need to convey to shareholders that the bet was worthwhile. Zeal from the C-suite doesn't necessarily mean the employees are on board. Some might feel intimidated and reject the technology altogether. Others will simply program the software to do their jobs, viewing it as a substitute rather than a helper. Many will find this new phase of work to be discouraging and dehumanizing. Two schools of thought have emerged around artificial intelligence, Hancock said. The first is a 'pilot' mindset, which casts AI as a tool to augment performance and help people achieve their goals. Hancock describes the second mindset as that of a 'passenger,' or someone who feels a loss of power and control when interacting with AI. By many measures, Benioff seems to fit in the first camp. He embraced a concept called 'agentic AI,' which refers to technology so sophisticated, it can accomplish tasks without human supervision. At its best, this class of AI should broaden possibilities for workers and create an opening for projects that previously would have been too burdensome. This is the AI that reads and summarizes your emails, manages your calendar, handles the customer service call with that person who wants to return shoes. Benioff is so enamored of this model that he refers to Salesforce's AI bots as an army of digital 'agents.' According to Chang, he spent more than $20 million to license physicist Albert Einstein's likeness for Salesforce's AI branding. Salesforce seeks to have 1 billion active agents by the end of the year. Whether Salesforce workers accept this new 'AgentForce' depends largely on how they interpret Benioff's attitude toward AI. And his remarks this week could serve as an inflection point. Because the technology is so new and could so profoundly change labor, executives are uniquely positioned to shape the mentality at their companies, Hancock said. If Benioff portrays AI as productive and liberating, then his optimism will flow down from managers to lower-level employees. Hancock calls this a 'leadership cascade.' On the flip side, if Salesforce employees construe Benioff's comments as a warning that he plans to lay off half the staff, then people will feel degraded and overwhelmed, as though they're being whip-sawed by new machinery. 'It's easier to imagine what will go away,' he said. It's much harder, at this juncture, to conceive the future benefits.
Express Tribune
20-02-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Experts advocate data-driven crisis response
Listen to article Experts stressed the need to enhance crisis response and resilience, scale down climate risks and economic challenges, and promote sustainable agriculture during the concluding session of the two-day international conference on 'Data-Driven Social Change-2025.' The event was organised by the Information Technology Centre (ITC) of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) in collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and held at SAU. They discussed the role of data analytics in mitigating risks associated with emergencies, disasters, climate change, public health, and economic crises. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) former Director General Sanaullah Abbasi elaborated on the evolving transition from the material world to cyberspace, where sectors such as agriculture, education, healthcare, and the economy increasingly rely on digital data. He said that while this digital transformation brings efficiency, it also poses major challenges related to cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. He further contextualised these changes within two major historical revolutions: the Industrial Revolution, which spurred mechanised production and trade, and the Internet Revolution, which integrated information, commerce, and education into the digital domain. He said that today, climate change, cybersecurity, and advanced technology are among the foremost global priorities. He added that AI-driven predictive analytics are reshaping cyberspace, agriculture, trade, and social media, necessitating proactive measures to ensure ethical and responsible implementation. SAU Vice Chancellor Dr Altaf Ali Siyal underscored the significance of data-driven social transformation for Sindh. He highlighted the potential of modern data analytics to enhance agricultural productivity, improve disaster prediction, ensure fair water distribution, and facilitate climate risk assessment. He also emphasised the growing threats of cybercrimes in parallel with increased data usage, stressing the need for robust data security, ethical data management, and social protection measures. Presenting recommendations, SAU Information Technology Centre Director Dr Mir Sajjad Talpur called for developing real-time data systems to enhance emergency preparedness and disaster response; utilising predictive analytics to mitigate risks related to climate change, public health, and economic instability; encouraging public-private partnerships; and creating multi-stakeholder initiatives that connect governments, academia, and industry to maximise the social impact of data-driven innovations. He also supported funding opportunities for collaborative research and development projects that address challenges. Researchers presented a string of research papers to find solutions to challenges related to climate change and other pressing issues.
Express Tribune
06-02-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
The world is changing faster than you think
We are standing at the edge of one of the most profound economic and technological transformations in human history. Over the next six to ten years, we will witness the rapid acceleration of trends that have been quietly reshaping our world: monetary debasement, the transition to digital finance, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). These forces are not just economic; they are rewiring the global order itself. If you think the world changed dramatically over the past two decades, you haven't seen anything yet. The pace of disruption is about to go into overdrive. The Old Financial System is Running on Borrowed Time The global financial system has been on life support since the 2008 crisis. That was the moment when it effectively went insolvent. Instead of allowing the system to reset, central banks intervened aggressively, printing trillions of dollars, pushing interest rates to zero, and propping up markets with artificial liquidity. This has created a dangerous illusion. While stock markets, real estate, and bonds have soared in value, these gains are mostly the result of monetary expansion. When measured in gold, a true benchmark of value, real growth has been minimal. In other words, the system isn't actually producing more wealth; it's just printing more money to make it seem that way. But this approach is running out of steam. The next phase of this transition will be digital. Governments and central banks are already preparing for a shift to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), state-controlled digital money that will replace cash. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is emerging as the settlement asset of last resort in the new financial system, playing the role of digital gold. As the old system continues to be debased, Bitcoin is acting as a monetary sponge, absorbing excess liquidity and providing an alternative to traditional stores of value. AI and Automation Will Drive Unstoppable Deflation While money printing has created inflation in financial assets, another force, artificial intelligence, is about to unleash deflation in the real economy. AI is set to make industries dramatically more efficient, automating jobs, optimizing production, and reducing costs across every sector. This is a pattern we've seen before. The Industrial Revolution lowered the cost of goods by mechanizing labor. The Internet Revolution made information nearly free. Now, AI will do the same for production, services, and even decision-making. Here's what this means: • Businesses will be able to produce more with fewer workers. • Prices for goods and services will fall, making essentials cheaper. • The traditional economic model, where wages and jobs define prosperity, will be disrupted. We are heading into a paradoxical world where fiat currency is losing value due to monetary debasement, while AI-driven efficiency is making everything cheaper. A Historic Shift: Similar to 1914-1945, But Even Faster This kind of transformation has happened before. Between 1914 and 1945, the world moved from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy. That transition brought immense disruption, including two world wars, the Great Depression, and the collapse of old power structures. Now, we are seeing a similar shift from the industrial economy to the AI-driven digital economy. But this time, it won't take 30 years. It's happening in a single decade. In the coming years, we may see: • A fully digital financial system, with cash becoming obsolete. • AI replacing entire industries, forcing governments to rethink labor and income models. • Bitcoin solidifying its role as the settlement asset of last resort in a digital financial system. • A reordering of global power structures as technology outpaces regulation. What Comes Next? Preparing for the Accelerated Future Most people are unaware of just how quickly this transformation is unfolding. The next six to ten years will be the most disruptive period of our lifetimes. The old system is crumbling, and a new one is being built in real time. This is not a drill. We are moving into a world where digital money, AI-driven deflation, and technological acceleration will reshape the very fabric of society. There will be challenges—social unrest, economic shifts, and political turbulence—but also enormous opportunities for those who understand the changes ahead. History has shown that every great economic shift brings winners and losers. Those who saw the Industrial Revolution coming were able to build empires. Those who ignored it were left behind. The same is true today. The world is changing faster than you think, and within a decade, it will be unrecognizable. Closing Thoughts: What's Coming in Part Two This is just the beginning of a broader conversation. In the next part of this series, I will explore why traditional wealth preservation strategies are no longer viable and how individuals and institutions need to rethink asset allocation in a world where digital and decentralized finance are reshaping value. Additionally, we'll discuss how this transformation presents a unique opportunity for frontier markets like Pakistan. Unlike industrialized nations that are locked into legacy systems, countries that have lagged behind in the industrial age now have a chance to leapfrog by adopting new technologies, just as we've seen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, where bold technological adoption has positioned them at the forefront of digital transformation. This is a time of both uncertainty and opportunity. The rules of the game are changing fast, and those who recognize the shifts early will be best positioned to thrive. Stay tuned for Part Two.
