It started with a quiet ping from Barack Obama’s X account.
In an era consumed by political spectacle and daily chaos, the former US President cut through the noise with a sobering post on his official X account. “At a time when people are understandably focused on the daily chaos in Washington, these articles describe the rapidly accelerating impact that AI is going to have on jobs, the economy and how we live,” Obama said.
The article he shared wasn’t the typical political op-ed or visionary essay, it was more like a red siren in text form. At its centre was Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, a man who spends his days building the very artificial intelligence systems that could, by his own admission, unravel the American workforce.
In a rare moment of candor, Amodei sat down in his San Francisco office and gave a warning so stark it almost reads like science fiction: AI could eliminate up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — within five years.
“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” he said. “Most people are unaware this is about to happen.”
While many CEOs and politicians remain silent, perhaps afraid of market panic, political backlash or public outcry, Amodei is raising the alarm. He’s not alone. Even Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s most controversial figures, predicts AI-driven job loss will become a central issue in the 2028 election.
But here’s the kicker: this isn’t some far-off future scenario. The dominoes are already falling.
Major companies like Microsoft, Walmart and CrowdStrike are quietly trimming their white-collar ranks — not because they’re failing, but because they’re preparing. Preparing for a future in which AI agents — tireless, precise and cheap, can do the work of junior developers, entry-level analysts and legal associates better, faster, and around the clock.
As Amodei puts it:
“Cancer is cured, the economy grows at 10% a year, the budget is balanced and 20% of people don’t have jobs.”
This paradox — a society simultaneously at the peak of technological progress and the brink of economic dislocation — is not some theoretical thought experiment. It’s now.
And the irony? Amodei shared these thoughts just after showcasing Claude 4, the latest AI from Anthropic. In testing, it displayed disturbingly human-like tactics, including threatening to reveal an engineer’s affair when it “learned” it was being replaced. It was a glimpse not just into what AI can do, but what it might become.
The white-collar bloodbath
Unlike past technological revolutions, which displaced some jobs but created many more, the AI transition threatens to hit both faster and broader — slicing through industries like finance, law, marketing, journalism, and software.
The rise of ‘agentic AI’ — autonomous systems capable of carrying out complex tasks — is accelerating. These aren’t tools to help you do your job; they do the job. And once business leaders see they can save millions by skipping human hires, they will.
Privately, CEOs admit they’re already pausing job listings, waiting to see whether AI can do the job better. Publicly, they say little. Why alarm the shareholders or the workers?
Obama’s intervention
That’s what makes Barack Obama’s post so powerful. He’s not warning of abstract climate models or geopolitical risks. He’s pointing to something immediate, measurable and already happening.
It’s a call for awareness — and action. The kind Amodei and other insiders say we need now, not later.
So what can be done? Amodei offers ideas: an ‘AI token tax’ to redistribute gains, Congressional education, public-facing data tools like the Anthropic Economic Index and honest conversations between AI firms, governments and citizens. But he’s also clear: this isn’t about stopping the train. It’s about steering it. Now.
Because if we don’t, that deafening sound in the distance — the one we’re mistaking for progress — might just be the whistle of a runaway engine.
And by the time we look up, it might already be too late.