Citrini called it a “thought exercise in financial history, from the future.”
The authors describe how rapid AI adoption would lead to mass white-collar layoffs, triggering a deflationary spiral and perhaps even a systemic economic collapse. And while this apocalyptic scenario was denounced by most other AI, tech, financial and business experts as being unrealistic — with potential ulterior motives — leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have doubled down on their predictions that mass layoffs are coming.
Meanwhile, the app Resume Builder released a survey in February proclaiming that 57 percent of workers are now “job hugging,” or clinging to their current jobs. Seventy percent fear being replaced by AI, and another 63 percent of respondents are worried about layoffs in the next six months.
So what should organizations and cyber professionals be doing — and not doing — as AI is rolled out to more staff and incorporated into more processes?
One negative example comes from The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper. According to sources, articles were drafted by artificial intelligence under the title “Advanced Local Express Desk.” While the process included editors reviewing content before it was released, anonymous Plain Dealer journalists demonstrated that editorial quality and staff morale were harmed in the process. Critics also claimed that guardrails, such as thoroughly fact-checking and consistent editing, were often absent.
Bottom line was that the end product for clients got worse when AI agents replaced writers, akin to a restaurant watering down the soup.
Even among those who disagree with Anthropic’s Amodei about AI’s job-killing future and the timelines for AI to equal or surpass human intelligence, there seems to be a global consensus building that all of us need to be reskilling now to take advantage of AI agents and new tools that can dramatically improve productivity.
Cybersecurity professionals and other IT pros must utilize AI to keep up and maintain effectiveness. For example, security operations center analysts can be trained on AI-assisted hunting tools, which are faster and often more accurate than the mostly manual log reviews.
Other perspectives come from an excellent debate on “AI vs. Human Jobs” at Johns Hopkins University, which included entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, economist Simon Johnson and CEO of Humane Intelligence PBC Rumman Chowdhury. I highly recommend watching the entire debate, available on YouTube.
What both sides agreed upon is that to excel in the next decade, professionals need to develop more skills that focus on humans’ unique advantages in applying technology in their roles.
Here are some of the helpful ideas that came from that debate:
- Refine and grow your judgment, compassion and empathy in dealing with clients. Remember that AI does not “do” anything. It does not have general intelligence.
- Learn (and teach) how to think versus what to think or just an answer.
- Master AI tools and apply learning to underserved populations who have fewer resources.
- Remain flexible in your roles and keep an eye out for what’s going on now.
- Take AI tools to small and midsize businesses and governments in your state.
- Put down your phone and talk to more people in person.
- Be wary of “moral outsourcing.”
- Help leaders think through the implications of decisions.
- Cybersecurity has a unique role in enabling AI through oversight and policing of agents and apps.
- Address the many dangers that AI poses.
- Embrace change. Navigate the rapid tech advances coming with AI.
- Build the bridge for organizations from the old ways to the new ways of doing things with people, processes and technology.
- Think through ways your organization can stop “insider threats” in this new era. Agentic AI could go rogue, and you need to put policies in place for that possibility.
Likewise, AI will not fix cybersecurity, but you might — using AI.
