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An Approaching AI-Tech Job Apocalypse [1]

['Alan Singer', 'Franks Human', 'Chloris Creator', 'Mercy Ormont']

Date: 2026-09-02  

I’ve been trying to understand what is happening with the economy, especially because of the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how trends bode for the future and I’m not the only one having difficulty. In 1966, U.S. economist Paul Samuelson famously chided economic prognosticators with an off repeated and modified the remark that “Wall Street indexes predicted nine out of the last five recessions!”

Suggestive numbers are already starting to come in. In May 2025, the New York Times reported that unemployment rates for recent college graduates had climbed because companies were investing in artificial intelligence programs and using them to replace entry level white collar workers. AI-related layoffs in the first half of 2026 surpassed the combined total for 2024 and 2025. Layoffs increased in March, April and May. Artificial intelligence was responsible for nearly 40% the May 2026 job cuts.

Capital Economics, a London-based financial research service believes the tech bubble driving stock market gains will continue to inflate for a few more months before “bursting.” They predict the S&P 500 stock index will drop from 8,250 to 6,500 by the end of 2027, a decline of over 20%.

I regularly read commentary by economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz and news and opinion articles in the New York Times on economic issues. Krugman has been writing extensively about the economic mistakes of the Trump administration and how they threaten the stability of both the U.S. and global economy while Stiglitz’ major concern is the way the economy, as it is structured and supported by the federal government, produces income inequality. As professional economists, they both avoid predicting an “economic collapse,” but they continually warn of economic vulnerabilities and potential stagnation caused by tariffs, international conflicts, and high energy prices and they are especially concerned about the current political climate and the vast expansion of AI and data centers.

In 1819, British economist David Ricardo testified before Parliament and dismissed concerns expressed by Utopian Socialist Robert Owen that the Industrial Revolution would hurt workers by eliminating jobs. However in 1821, in the third edition of his book On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo added a new chapter where he explained that his views on the subject had changed.

In Chapter 31 “On Machinery,” Ricardo concluded that “the substitution of machinery for human labour, is often very injurious to the interests of the class of labourers. … It will be injurious to the labouring class, as some of their number will be thrown out of employment, and population will become redundant, compared with the funds which are to employ it.” Ricardo no believed “the opinion entertained by the labouring class, that the employment of machinery is frequently detrimental to their interests, is not founded on prejudice and error, but is conformable to the correct principles of political economy.”

Paul Krugman argues that Ricardo realized that “the Industrial Revolution was bringing about ‘capital-biased technological change’: change that, other things equal, reduced the demand for labor while increasing the demand for capital.” Ricardo and Krugman recognized that “strong capital-biased technology can drive wages down” even as it increases the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because economic benefits and pain are not evenly distributed across society.

Unfortunately, Ricardo’s insights did not shape government policy in Great Britain or the United States and for the last two hundred years “capital-biased technological change” has produced extraordinary wealth and power for a few and higher standards of living for most people living in economically dominant countries but with repeated economic collapses, devastating wars, dislocation of communities, the exploitation of people outside the advanced industrial zone, and decimation of the environment. The catastrophic impacts of “capital-biased technological change” is an important argument for economic regulation and what has been labeled both positively and negatively as democratic socialism.

With the AI and tech revolution, we now live in an era of “capital-biased technological change” unleashed by giant technological companies and obscenely wealthy individuals that purchase political influence to shape rules that benefit them. Their intense drive to maximize short-term advantage and profit while ignoring long-term costs gives them tremendous leverage over government decisions and possesses a dire threat to the U.S. and global economies.

At the end of June, AI-focused super PACs had already spent over $40 million to influence primaries and the general election for 435 Congressional seats and one-third of the Senate is not until November. In one New York City Congressional race alone, competing AI and tech groups spent about $30 million both for and against a candidate who supported regulation of the industry. A super PAC connected to investors in ChatGPT maker OpenAI claimed regulation of AI would crush innovation. The candidate, who ultimately lost the primary, responded that “Some of the richest people on the planet — a handful of oligarchs determined to prevent any check on their power, the very people funding Donald Trump — decided to make an example out of this race.”

According to the mission statement of another big money AI group, Leading the Future, they “oppose policies that stifle innovation, enable China to gain global AI superiority, or make it harder to bring AI’s benefits into the world, and those who support that agenda.” The group has already raised $75 million they will use to influence 2026 elections.

AI and technology companies believe that they are “leading the future.” The question remains, what will that future look like for ordinary people if without restrictions they get to play economic God.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/2/800093118/community/an-approaching-ai-tech-job-apocalypse/

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