- AI Compares to Dotcom Bubble Again, Companies Warn of Post-Bubble Crash
- Cisco CEO warns of ‘carnage down the road’ as employment changes
- IMF chief says AI will hit labor market ‘like a tsunami’
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has warned that while AI will create new opportunities, it will also be responsible for “a carnage down the road”, and many companies are unlikely to survive a post-bubble shock.
talking to him bbcRobbins argues that AI will ultimately be “bigger than the Internet,” signaling that there is more to come, much like how the Dotcom bubble preceded the long-term transformation of the Internet.
But these are not unfounded projections: Cisco actually survived a similar bubble around the 2000 peak, when its shares fell about 80% after rising rapidly. Robbins emphasized that the same decline could follow this initial AI boom.
Cisco has already been through a bubble
Turning to the implications for the workforce, Robbins warned that some positions will be eliminated entirely and others will be reshaped. Customer service appears to be the highest risk area, with colleagues who are “very good at using AI” more likely to succeed.
“You shouldn’t worry so much about AI taking your job, but rather someone who is very good at using AI taking your job,” he summarized.
Robbins also noted that AI has allowed attacks to become more sophisticated and less detectable, meaning cybersecurity teams could have their work cut out for them, so they won’t be immediately affected by AI-induced job losses.
However, despite concerns that AI may be displacing human workers, a new UK government report says it is still difficult to categorically say that redundancies are the result of AI-driven productivity. Still, UK job advertisements fell by 38% for occupations with high exposure to AI between 2022 and 2025 (via McKinsey research).
Robbins is not the only one who shares his concerns about the effects of AI on the labor market. Speaking at the recent WEF conference in Davos (via CNBC), International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that AI “is hitting the labor market like a tsunami, and most countries and most companies are not prepared for it.”
Looking ahead, it is clear that workers must focus on improving their skills to differentiate themselves from their competitors in a changing labor market.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
