The rapid development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools will have broad implications for our society. On the Line spoke with Emma Jackson, a Program Manager at Google, about what these technologies really mean for workers, including the software engineers designing and building new AI tools themselves.
Software engineering jobs have been considered some of the most sought-after careers, with relatively high pay and job security. However, that has been changing in recent years as career stability and generous salaries have been replaced with mass layoffs and underpaid subcontractors. In the first half of 2025 alone, around 80,000 tech jobs were cut, nearly 500 every single day.
Just as many other sectors of the economy face a growing threat of AI-driven job cuts, tech workers see the threat of their own replacement right in front of them. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told shareholders that over 30% of Google’s codebase was written by AI. That number is only going up. The very engineers who are coding these tools see how their employer will aim to cut them out later.
Most employers are investing in using AI, feeling this is the only way to compete. This race to the bottom to replace their workers and cut costs is already threatening the jobs of tens of millions of workers across the country – from truck drivers to nurses. Workers will see cut hours and cut jobs. For the workers who stay, they will be expected to work harder, faster, and for less – potentially with AI performance monitoring to ensure it.
In the past, bosses relied on threats of offshoring and closures to force workers to drop their standards and be grateful to have a job. Now they will add the threat of replacement by advanced AI and robotics to demand the same discipline.
This technology does have immense potential to do great things and benefit society. However, as long as it’s controlled by Big Tech billionaires and Corporate America, it will be used to maximize profits for the few despite the massive crisis it will create for the rest of society. Instead, these tools and the infrastructure used to support them should be made into a public good to fix our country’s biggest problems, not create new ones.
