William Southern In the early 2000s, popular culture and Hollywood explored the idea of an AI uprising. At the time, the idea that our own technology could turn against us was nothing but paranoid fantasy, but nowadays, it has become our reality. While AI may not have conquered humanity the way The Matrix or The Terminator would lead us to believe, this digital parasite has wormed its way directly into one of the most integral sectors of society: our job market.
Over the past eight years, generative AI has become ingrained in society as a useful tool for writing, homework help, and, more recently, image and video generation. While AI has indeed become quite useful, its continued evolution poses issues in several different settings.
It’s much easier for a student in school to ask AI to write an essay than it is actually to sit down and put pen to paper. On YouTube, various creators use AI to produce low-quality videos en masse. These channels, often referred to as “content farms,” flood the shorts algorithms with AI and garner the same (if not more) ad revenue as creators who actually put effort into their work.
As large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT advance in accuracy and quality, it becomes apparent that these programs have graduated from a minor nuisance in the classroom to a legitimate threat to thousands of jobs. Corporations have taken notice of how efficient and cost-effective AI can be, and in an effort to increase profit margins, many have replaced human employees with machines.
According to CNBC, AI has been responsible for over fifty thousand layoffs in 2025 alone. Fifteen thousand of these layoffs are a key element of Microsoft’s plan to integrate AI into customer service and programming. At the same time, another 14,000 can be attributed to a slash in corporate jobs at Amazon.
Public relations and programming aren’t the only jobs in danger, and with the rise of photo and video generation, creative jobs have entered the computer’s crosshairs. AI can easily replicate actors and artists to an unreal level of detail, and as a result, it has become increasingly difficult for them to find employment.
Many who have studied the arts for years in college, diligently working to refine their craft, have entered the working class to find very few job openings with unsatisfactory salaries. USAFacts.org and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report that between 2013 and 2022, the average salary of actors in the U.S. dropped by 38%, while an online survey suggests that at least 10% of animators experienced a noticeable drop in median salary. AI and its accessibility are partially responsible for this decline.
If AI is taking over, then what’s the solution? What can we do to ensure our job security? Realistically, unless you’re the CEO of a massive company, there’s not much we can do directly. As long as massive conglomerates have full control of the economy, these industries are under threat. While we cannot directly cancel an AI optimization problem, we can inspire change and end this trend using the one tool each employee has in common: their voice.
We need to spread the message that humans cannot and will not be replaced. If your company is considering AI implementation, do your best to align with your corporate leadership’s values. While it’s not illegal to lay off an entire department, it is certainly unethical.
If we remind the directors behind these changes what unemployment could mean for the people less fortunate than them, they may think for a second before denying someone their ability to pay rent or put food on the table. The very best thing you can do to slow the AI overtake is to share this warning. Speak up and tell the world that you are not replaceable. We will not be discarded.
William Southern is a member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
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James Flynn III 
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