AI News Monitor

Geoffrey Hinton, the pioneering computer scientist often called the “Godfather of AI,” has issued a sobering warning: artificial intelligence is poised to replace vast swaths of white-collar workers, leaving few intellectual jobs untouched.

In a recent interview on the podcast Diary of a CEO, Dr. Hinton, a 2024 Nobel laureate in Physics and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, predicted that AI will soon render many professions obsolete—particularly those involving routine cognitive tasks.

“For mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody,” he said. “You’ll have a person and an AI assistant doing the work that 10 people did before.” Among the most vulnerable roles, he noted, are paralegals and call-center workers. “I’d be terrified to work in a call center right now,” he admitted.

But blue-collar jobs may be safer—for now. Dr. Hinton suggested that physically demanding work, like plumbing, would remain largely insulated from automation. “It’s going to be a long time before AI is as good at physical manipulation,” he said.

His warnings come amid growing evidence that AI is already reshaping hiring. A recent report from venture firm SignalFire found that major tech companies, including Meta and Google, slashed entry-level graduate hires by 25% from 2023 to 2024, with AI playing a key role. Meanwhile, Wall Street is bracing for disruption: Morgan Stanley cut 2,000 jobs this year, partly in favor of AI, and a Bloomberg Intelligence report projected 200,000 banking jobs could vanish in five years.

Dr. Hinton dismissed the optimistic view that AI will spawn new roles to replace those it eliminates. “You’d have to be very skilled to have a job that it just couldn’t do,” he said.

As industries scramble to adapt, his message is clear: the age of AI-driven displacement has only just begun.