In San Francisco, where you can dump eight grand a month on a one-bedroom apartment, the natives are revolting.
Well, some of them. Tech still powers the place, making real estate impossible. But it’s also unleashing an AI crapstorm that had protestors in the street on Saturday. They marched from the offices of Open AI (soon to have an IPO) then to Anthropic (also planning one) and on to Google (stock up 93% in the past 12 months).
“Stop the AI race!” their placards read, along with “Stop slop”. They want a freeze on new AI models before vast numbers of jobs are wiped out and little bots and agents escape into the wild and eventually kill us.
Protestors are always kinda dodgy and easy to ignore. Nobel prize laureates, not so much.
Today 200 researchers, academics, AI executives, economists and 15 Nobel winners published this terse 88-word warning.
Their message is simple. AI is like the Industrial Revoluton – which utterly transformed society – but will happen far faster. Not decades, but years. Or months. Nobody will escape the effects, so governments must wake up and start regulating it. If not, expect crisis.
The consensus among these folks (several of them are Canadian luminaries) is remarkable. The authors even include the finance chief at OpenAI, one of the Anthropic co-founders and the chief scientist at Google DeepMind. Together with the ruffians protesting on the streets of SF and local activists in scores of communities opposing proposed, massive, energy-sucking data centres, it’s an unlikely alliance of people trying to stop the future.
Will they succeed?
Nah. Not a chance. Not while Trump is in the White House, controlling the Securities and Exchange Commission, the departments of Commerce and Justice plus Congress. America is in an AI race with China, and both countries would rather win than be responsible. They see everything from unbridled economic growth to military dominance based on weapons that independently hunt and kill, including those permanently based in space.
Given that threat, merely losing your job as a financial advisor or a pathetic blogger to Claude, Gemini or Chat GPT seems like a non-event. And, yes, this looks like the future. More than slop.
What can you do?
First, accept that this is inevitable. Your analog life is so over. Soon only sex workers will have job security (that could change).
Second, expect more volatility, political uncertainty, social unrest and economic consequences as this thing rolls out. The smarties who posted today’s message are correct. Large-scale job displacements are inevitable. There will be much more pressure on governments to cushion that blow, and already they’re running deeply in the red. Think your OAS monthly will be secure a decade from now? Think again.
Second, stay invested. The best choice is the portfolio we keep yakking about – built for change, volatility, and stormy weather. Diversification will be essential as more companies are disrupted and new entrants surge. Balance keeps the boat from tipping by providing safe, income-producing assets which counter-balance growth assets. Portfolio income might even become more reliable than employment income.
Boring? Yup. And it works.
For the adventuresome, there are lots of options better than trying to pick individual stocks as the AI age rolls out. For example AIQ (Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology) holds semiconductors, software, hardware and the data firms. Another is iShares AI Innovation and Tech (BAI) giving exposure to the AI developers. There are also ETFs focussed on data centres, support industries, power systems, factory software and advanced robotics (the new sex workers).
We’re all in this now. Good luck.
About the picture: “Ziggy eyeing a precious $2 (!!) tomato set aside for hamburger night tonight,” writes Lloyd. “She’ll be much more interested in the burger when the time comes. Thanks again for all you do – it’s hard to believe you continue to churn out all the very readable and helpful pieces on a virtually daily basis. I keep expecting you to take a significant hiatus to enjoy the land of Dolce Vita or some such place.”
To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘[email protected]’.