Mark Zuckerberg says AI will create ‘abundance of jobs’, college may become optional

“The notion that AI is so dangerous that the only safe path is an extreme concentration of power seems inherently problematic. Historically, hoping that an absolute power will benevolently provide for humanity if sufficiently enlightened has not led to safe or positive outcomes,” he adds.

Zuckerberg, currently the world’s sixth-richest person with an estimated net worth of $211 billion, believes AI could instead lead to an “abundance of jobs” by creating demand for products, services and entire industries that do not exist today.

He noted that many professions that are now considered ordinary were either rare or nonexistent a generation ago. App developers, social media creators, electric vehicle technicians and data centre operators, for instance, were not major career options in the way they are today.

He expects a similar transformation as AI develops. Some of the jobs he envisions include one-person studios designing physical products, world builders creating virtual environments and personal biologists developing treatments tailored to individuals.

Difficult period

That does not mean Zuckerberg expects the transition to be painless. “If automation outpaces workers’ ability to develop new skills, job displacement could create a ‘difficult period’ for society,” he said.

He argued that governments and businesses will therefore need to put more effort into preparing people for careers that are less exposed to automation. Skilled trades could be among the areas that benefit, particularly as demand grows for infrastructure needed to support an increasingly technology-driven economy.

“Unlike the concern about knowledge work displacement, there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople like carpenters, electricians, and construction workers to support the demand for infrastructure buildout,” he said.

The debate over AI and employment also ties into a larger question about whether traditional education is preparing young people for the world of work. Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard, has previously questioned whether a college degree is always worth the financial burden, particularly when it does not necessarily equip graduates for the jobs available to them.

Speaking on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast last year, Zuckerberg said, “It would be one thing if [college] was just kind of like a social experience, but you started off neutral. The fact that it’s not preparing you for the jobs that you need and you’re kind of starting off in this big [financial] hole, then I think that’s not good.”

He also argued that the assumption that everyone should attend college may eventually have to be reconsidered.

“There’s going to have to be a reckoning…and people are going to have to figure out whether that makes sense. It’s sort of been this taboo thing to say, ‘Maybe not everyone needs to go to college,’ and because there’s a lot of jobs that don’t require that…people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe like 10 years ago,” he added.