The Deep View: AI to erase 50% of white-collar roles

Posted on June 2, 2025 by michelleclarke2015
AI to erase 50% of white-collar roles
Source: ChatGPT 4o
The head of AI startup Anthropic has issued one of the tech industry’s starkest warnings yet: within five years, artificial intelligence may eliminate half of all entry-level corporate jobs, potentially pushing unemployment into double digits.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, told CNN that the rapid rise of advanced AI could trigger a “white-collar bloodbath” in office roles, as automated systems handle much of the work once done by junior staff. He even speculated U.S. unemployment could surge to 10-20% in that scenario.
Skepticism and reality checks: Amodei did not present data backing his 50% figure, prompting a CNN business analyst to label it “all part of the AI hype machine.” Tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban pushed back, writing: “Someone needs to remind the CEO that at one point there were more than 2 million secretaries… They were the original white collar displacements. New companies with new jobs will come from AI and increase total employment.“
Entry-level workers in the crosshairs: If Amodei’s projections prove accurate, younger and less-experienced workers stand to lose the most. A senior LinkedIn executive recently observed that AI is “already starting to take jobs from new grads.” A New York Times report concluded that new graduates are entering industries that “have little use for their skills, view them as expensive and expendable and are rapidly phasing out their jobs in favor of artificial intelligence.“
Companies aren’t waiting: Businesses are already integrating AI into workflows. IBM recently announced a pause on hiring for roles that AI could do, after calculating that roughly 30% of its back-office jobs (about 7,800 positions) could be replaced by automation over the next five years. A World Economic Forum survey found over 80% of employers expect to adopt big data, AI and other new technologies by 2027, even as they foresee a net loss of 14 million jobs worldwide in the same period.
The scale of disruption: A Goldman Sachs analysis estimated that generative AI could affect or automate the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs globally. That report predicted white-collar occupations will be far more exposed than blue-collar ones: nearly half of tasks in administrative and legal jobs could be done by AI, versus only about 6% of work in construction.
Policy response: The White House and U.S. Congress have begun discussing AI’s workforce implications, weighing measures from re-training programs to potential regulation of AI in hiring and layoffs. Labor market experts note that unlike past automation waves that unfolded over decades, this one could arrive with unprecedented speed.
Entry-level jobs have been the launchpad for upward mobility in the workforce. They’re where employees learn the ropes, prove themselves and begin climbing. If those roles dry up, the consequences extend far beyond individual career paths.
The culture crisis: Companies aren’t just hiring entry-level workers for their immediate productivity — they’re building future leaders. These roles serve as cultural onboarding, where new hires absorb company values, understand internal processes and form the rela

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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