--- title: "Strangely-Dressed Expert Warns That AI Could Replace 80% of Jobs Soon" description: "A man that wears a leopard print cowboy hat has a bold prediction: that AI will, in the next few years, replace up to 80 percent of jobs." date: "2023-05-09" modified: "2023-05-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/expert-ai-replace-jobs" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "agi" - "dr. ben goertzel" - "labor" - "the digest" --- # Strangely-Dressed Expert Warns That AI Could Replace 80% of Jobs Soon ![A man that wears a leopard print cowboy hat has a bold prediction: that AI will, in the next few years, replace up to 80 percent of jobs.]() *SingularityNET Founder and CEO Ben Goertzel performs along with the AI robot Desdemona during the Web Summit Rio 2023 at the RioCentro Expo Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 3, 2023. (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP) (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* ## Big Shoes The guy responsible both for [Sophia the Robot]() and for popularizing the term "[artificial general intelligence]()" — as in the [much-discussed concept of AGI]() — has a prediction that's as bold as some of his fashion choices. In an [interview with France's *AFP* news wire](), Brazilian-American AI guru Ben Goertzel — perhaps known as much for his [leopard print cowboy hat]() worn over his long curly hair as his advances in machine learning — affirmed that AI might actually be coming for our jobs, but that's not, to his mind, necessarily a bad thing. "You could probably obsolete maybe 80 percent of jobs that people do, without having an AGI, by my guess," he told the news wire during the recent Web Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro. "Not with ChatGPT exactly as a product. But with systems of that nature, which are going to follow in the next few years." ## NBD The cowboy hat-donning guru is far from [alone in his prediction](), but instead of looking at AI as a threat to jobs, he sees it as a potential net good. That's not exactly surprising given that Goertzel not only popularized the term AGI, but is also [actively working towards creating it]() with his blockchain-based SingularityNET project (because of course a guy who wears that hat is into crypto). "I don't think it's a threat. I think it's a benefit. People can find better things to do with their life than work for a living," Goertzel said. "Pretty much every job involving paperwork should be automatable." Unlike many crypto and/or AI bros, however, Goertzel is at least willing to concede that there are limits to his omnipotence. "The problem I see is in the interim period, when AIs are obsoleting one human job after another," he told *AFP*. "I don't know how \[to\] solve all the social issues." **More on AI vs. human workers:** [*IBM Replacing 7,800 Human Jobs With AI, Including Human Resources*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()