THE PREEMPTIVE PIVOT

While there’s no evidence linking AI to mass layoffs, the tech has already ‘changed worker psychology’.

When artificial intelligence researcher Mrinank Sharma quit his job at Anthropic earlier this year, the news rippled across the internet. In his resignation letter, posted on X and viewed 15.3m times, Sharma warned of a world “in peril” from the technology he had helped build.

“It is clear to me the time has come to move on,” he wrote. His next move: a poetry degree.

In the months following Sharma’s resignation, AI industry defectors and workers outside of Silicon Valley alike have echoed his sentiments.

Bracing for disruption forecasted by the AI industry, white-collar professionals are voluntarily leaving established careers to pursue professions they feel are more secure or more aligned with their values. Workers across industries – from tech to public relations to consulting – say AI changed the substance and stability of their jobs overnight. They worry about AI jeopardizing their cognitive abilities, contributing to climate change, undermining value to customers and compromising security. Some, like Sharma, have left their fields entirely, shifting to vastly different careers.

The shift on the ground

Some white-collar workers have begun to look beyond the dreams they were sold as AI reshapes jobs.

After spending nearly a decade in public relations, 30-year-old Vanessa Hsia decided to seek a master’s degree in comparative literature.

“I felt very burnt out and concerned with the direction of the industry: chasing quantity over quality, relying on AI rather than critical thinking, prioritizing short-term wins over long-term strategy,” Hsia posted on LinkedIn. “I have no idea where this path will lead, but I’m taking my own advice: the world is on fire, might as well do what you want.”

Hsia and her former colleagues in PR feared AI would eventually replace them, she said, noting that specific tasks like pitching reporters over email were already being automated.

“I’ve been sold this dream that if I work really hard in my career, I’ll climb the ladder, that I will be respected in my field and paid a fair wage,” she said. “But then you have this technology that exacerbates the fact that, actually, no, that’s not guaranteed.”

- Author: Amelia Penniman, The Guardian

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