AI Takeover: What We Can Do About It

AI and Automation Is Quietly Dismantling the White-Collar World: I’ve spent years working at the intersection of automation, machine learning, and large-scale systems and recently there’s been a quiet shift happening in the background of our digital lives.

AI in the workplace

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, recently warned (*) that AI could wipe out up to 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years confirming what many in tech already see coming. And I also am here to confirm: This isn’t fearmongering. It’s what we’re building. But unlike the doomsayers, I believe this disruption is both inevitable and manageable—if we act strategically.

Why AI Will Disrupt White-Collar Jobs Faster Than Expected

From “Helping” to “Replacing”

The conversation around AI used to be about augmentation. But I think that ship has sailed. As someone who works with LLMs (Large Language Models) and automation pipelines, I’ve seen firsthand how AI can:

  • Write usable, testable code
  • Build deployment pipelines end-to-end
  • Automate with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Kubernetes, AI-driven DevOps)
  • Automate threat modeling and log analysis (AI-driven threat detection, automated pentesting)
  • Handle customer support (AI chatbots may surpass human response quality)
  • Review and summarize legal contracts

I’ve built and deployed systems like those. They’re not coming — they’re already here and they’re workers. Real ones…

The “Last Mile” of Automation is Closing Fast

Many thought AI would struggle with complex reasoning and context-aware decision-making. But with multi-agent systems (AutoGPT, Devin, SWE-Agent), AI can now:

  • Autonomously debug and deploy code
  • Manage CI/CD pipelines end-to-end
  • Optimize cloud costs in real-time

Most white-collar career paths start with entry-level works which AI can now do faster, cheaper, and 24/7. And that changes everything. If the first rung of the ladder disappears, where do people begin?

I see entry-to-mid-level IT and engineering roles being the first to shrink—not because AI is “smarter,” but because it’s cheaper, faster, and never sleeps.

Companies Are Preparing for Adoption

  • Microsoft (GitHub Copilot) is reducing junior engineering hires.
  • Meta openly says AI will replace mid-level coders by 2025.
  • Walmart, CrowdStrike, and others are cutting jobs in anticipation of AI efficiency.

Most CEOs won’t admit it publicly, but I believe every Fortune 500 is running internal AI displacement forecasts.

This Isn’t Just Another Industrial Revolution

Historically, tech disruptions (PCs, the internet, cloud computing) created more jobs than they destroyed. But AI is different because:

  1. Speed of Displacement → Past shifts took decades; AI could erase millions of jobs in a few years.
  2. Breadth of Impact → Unlike factory robots, AI hits knowledge workers—lawyers, engineers, analysts, marketers.
  3. Compounding Automation → AI improves AI. Once an AI agent can write code, it can improve itself.

How to Future-Proof Your Career

Start experimenting with AI now. Learn how to use it before it learns to replace you. Focus on what AI can’t do well: strategy, context, empathy, trust.

1. Move Up the Stack

  • Entry-level coders → At risk.
  • Senior engineers who architect AI systems → In demand.
  • Solution: Learn AI-augmented development (MLOps, LLM orchestration, AI security).

2. Specialize in What AI Can’t Do (Yet)

  • Cybersecurity (AI can detect threats, but human hackers adapt faster).
  • Open Source AI Ethics & Alignment (Who controls the models?)
  • AI-Human Collaboration (Prompt engineering, AI oversight).

3. Bet on Open Source & Decentralized AI

  • Proprietary AI (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) will centralize power.
  • Open models (Llama 3, Mistral, Falcon) let individuals and small teams compete.
  • Solution: Contribute to open-source AI tools and self-hosted models.

Note: I’m a long-time believer in Free/Libre/Open Source Software because it democratizes power. But there is still an uncomfortable truth here:

Even open AI can displace workers faster than society can adjust.

Conclusion: Adapt or Be Automated

This isn’t about sci-fi futures. This is about a very real economic transformation already in motion. We’re watching decades of assumptions about labor, productivity, and human value being rewritten by neural networks trained on the internet. So, AI will disrupt white-collar jobs—but it doesn’t have to be a “bloodbath.”

AI won’t just change how we work. It may change who gets to work at all.

My advice:

  • Embrace AI augmentation (Don’t fight it—master it).
  • Specialize in irreplaceable skills (Security, ethics, high-level architecture).
  • Push for open, decentralized AI
  • Prepare for policy shifts (UBI, retraining, new economic models).

I believe the future isn’t human vs. AI — it’s humans leveraging AI better than anyone else. Let’s make sure that this future is one we’ve consciously built.

Further Reading: