AI poses threats to jobs in all sectors, who's next?

The entertainment industry is now under threat from the dreaded invasion of artificial intelligence (AI) from the tech sector, which has sparked strikes backed by influential parties in the sector and put jobs at risk.

Tech industry leaders like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have emphasised the need for regulations for the use of generative AI since the beginning of this year and have highlighted the dangers posed by one of science's most recent innovations.

A letter that warned that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war" was signed in May by hundreds of business titans, including Altman, according to Euro News.

Numerous business leaders in the tech sector have also attributed the thousands of layoffs that have taken place in recent months to AI.

According to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, 212,294 workers in the tech sector have already lost their jobs in 2023 alone, surpassing the 164,709 tallied in 2022.

According to CNN, Chegg, a provider of educational technology, recently announced it would be laying off 80 employees, or 4% of its workforce, "to better position the company to execute against its AI strategy and to create long-term, sustainable value for its students and investors."

Furthermore, Dropbox, a file-storage company, announced in April that it was laying off 16% of its staff, citing AI as the cause.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, in a note to his staff related to the job cuts, said: “Over the last few months, AI has captured the world’s collective imagination, expanding the potential market for our next generation of AI-powered products more rapidly than any of us could have anticipated.

“Our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development.”

The creative industries of filmmaking and the arts, including acting, writing, and other creative fields, have recently come under the spotlight as being threatened by AI.

Following the introduction of AI to the market, picketers that include the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) continued to demonstrate and call for strict regulation of the technology as well as "higher compensation for the working-class actors and other gains".