The AI Job Crisis Andrew Yang Saw Coming

Andrew Yang joins Scott Galloway and Ed Elson to revisit his 2018-2020 presidential campaign warnings about AI and automation displacing millions of jobs, a thesis now reflected in rising layoffs and entry-level struggles amid low overall unemployment.

Yang's Early Warnings and Emerging Data

Yang drew from Silicon Valley contacts who privately acknowledged AI's threat to call center, retail, truck driving, and manufacturing roles, but avoided public statements to protect business plans promising labor displacement. He linked Trump's 2016 win to prior automation wiping out Midwest factory jobs, with manufacturing still declining net last year. Recent signs include 55,000 AI-attributed layoffs in 2023, recent college grad unemployment at 5.6% (highest non-pandemic in over a decade), and computer science placement rates flipping from 94% to much lower—exemplified by a UCLA CS grad driving Uber after six months of AI-filtered rejections. Companies like Oracle (30,000 cuts), Block, Pinterest, and Amazon cite AI, though Yang notes "AI washing" where overhiring corrections get blamed on tech savvy.