The scientist that helped create AI says it's only 'a matter of time' before every single job is wiped out-even trade jobs like plumbing | Fortune

"Professor Yoshua Bengio spent four decades building the technology that is now coming for your job. He is a computer science professor at the Université de Montréal, a Turing Award winner, and one of the most-cited scientist in the world on Google Scholar-and now he's turned his back on his life's work to warn that your job is probably already under threat. Desk jobs, or as Bengio called them, "cognitive jobs, the jobs that you can do behind a keyboard," will be the first casualties of automation."

""Unless we hit a wall scientifically, like some obstacle prevents us from making progress to make AIs smarter and smarter, there's going to be a time when they'll be doing more and more able to do more and more of the work that people do ... And then, of course, it takes years for companies to really integrate that into their workflows, but they're eager to do it. So it's more a matter of time than: Is it happening or not?""

"And he admitted that it's Gen Z new hires who are currently being hit hardest by AI, as junior roles are the easiest to cut, consolidate or backfill with software-but eventually everyone's jobs will be impacted within five years. For years, degrees were pushed as a key to success for the young and aspirational looking to nab well-paying and stable jobs. But now, even highly educated students are finding themselves " unemployable" as employers launch a "wait-and-watch strategy" in the midst of AI."

Yoshua Bengio, a leading AI researcher and Turing Award winner, warns that AI is already replacing cognitive desk jobs and will expand to perform many human tasks. He states that unless scientific progress stalls, AI capabilities will continue to grow and companies will gradually integrate automation into workflows. Junior and entry-level roles, especially among Gen Z hires, are currently most vulnerable, but broader job impacts are expected within five years. Employers are pausing graduate and entry-level hiring, with major firms freezing thousands of anticipated roles. Trade occupations and democratic institutions are also identified as potential areas of risk.

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