A former Google X executive has warned that AI will spark 15 years of societal upheaval, wiping out millions of white-collar jobs and triggering widespread economic and social disruption.
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mo Gawdat, once Chief Business Officer at Google’s moonshot division, predicted the AI revolution will usher in a “short-term dystopia” beginning as soon as 2027, with mass job losses, mental health crises and the collapse of the middle class.
“The next 15 years will be hell before we get to heaven,” said Gawdat, citing how his AI startup Emma.love operates with just three people – a role that would’ve required hundreds of developers in the past.
Gawdat warned that no profession is safe – even podcasters, CEOs and software engineers.
“AGI will get better at everything, including being a CEO,” he said.
Unlike past technological shifts that mainly disrupted manual labour, Gawdat believes this wave of AI will target knowledge workers – the core of modern economies. Without urgent regulation and social safety nets, he fears AI will accelerate inequality, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few.
“Unless you’re in the top 0.1%, you’re a peasant,” Gawdat said. “There is no middle class.”
Gawdat says the transition to AI-led productivity could trigger widespread unrest, loneliness and mental health issues as people lose their jobs and sense of purpose.
He advocates for policies such as universal basic income and strong ethical frameworks for AI development.
Despite the grim outlook, he remains hopeful that a “utopian” era awaits guided by “love, community, and spiritual development.”
His warning comes as industry leaders and analysts, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and researchers from Harvard and the World Economic Forum, echo similar concerns about job losses and wage collapse driven by AI.