The Second AI Revolution

March 15, 2025

If you think AI will have killed 80% of the jobs in 10 years, I have to agree.

But should this scare you? No, and I want to tell you I have evidence. If we look back on history of labor, we can find an example of AI killing 80% of jobs globally - and everybody is fine with it. Yes, you read that right. We have already seen an AI revolution before!

This first AI revolution has happened more than a century ago. And I am pretty sure you would look at it as a good revolution (At least for the job market - regarding the environment one might disagree).

I am not talking about "Artificial Intelligence", but about "Artificial Industry".

The first AI revolution

So what happened exactly?

While in pre-industrial times up to 90% of the worlds population worked in agriculture, the technological advancements made it possible that nowadays only 2% of the population manages to feed everybody with their work. And even those 2% do not really do the same thing: Nobody is cutting the wheat with a sickle or milk a cow with his own hands. They now have to operate tractors and harvesters and program the milk robot.

Why it is the same

But many people say: AI is replacing speech, creativity and thoughts, the very essence of every interesting job! (And being human even?)

Why this may seem so from today, I don't think any medieval farm worker would have agreed. Getting up before sunrise, spend hours milking cows, chopping firewood, ploughing fields and harvesting wheat was probably not much fun. And it definitely was not creative and very brainy work. In other words: 90% of medival work was tiring, intensive physical work. I suspect that the humans physical capacities were the most important properties of a person back then, defining their wealth and social status to the largest degree. Who could have bragged with his math skills if all that matters was the speed you could harvest your crop?

I am thus convinced: Telling a farmer that Artificial Industry will replace his job sounded just as threatening to him as telling a lawyer that Artificial Intelligence will take his.

Every job that exists today was enabled by technology

So why should we not be worried about AI? While it did kill 90% of existing jobs, it did this by making work more efficient. And thus freeing resource creating new jobs for everybody.

Similarly, Artificial Intelligence will free massive resources of mental capabilities. Just like the first AI revolution, this will not reduce the number of available jobs. It will just allow society to put less work to get the same effect (i.e. services and products). The people who where not used in agriculture anymore moved on to create other value in their now available time: Creating arts and entertainment, do science, provide services at affordable rates.

So while in medieval time only kings could afford live music, the industrial revolution enabled anyone to afford ticket concerts.

With AI, this will go further. In an abundance of food and services, much more people will be able to afford living of playing music - AI will allow everybody to make a living as a rock star!

It is not wealth that made tourism, science, arts and entertainment possible. It is the gained productivity of industrialisation that allowed people to offer these services.