Why Amazon is hiring 11,000 junior employees

Why Amazon is hiring 11,000 junior employees

In the seventh and final episode of our first season of the Platformer podcast, AWS CEO Matt Garman explains why he's still bullish on hiring junior employees, even as he rolls out a suite of AI agents that promise to replace entire jobs. Can his rosy vision of the future survive contact with the reality that Amazon is busy building? Where our previous guest, Replika and Wabi founder Eugenia Kuyda, told us the fear of job loss is "super justified," Garman might be the most full-throated optimist we've featured in the whole series. It's an optimism that doesn't always seem to square with Amazon's own moves. The company has cut roughly 30,000 corporate jobs since last October. Its CEO, Andy Jassy, has written that AI will "reduce our total corporate workforce" in the years ahead. Among other strategies, the company plans to replace half a million jobs with robots. Garman is talking up the value of labor even as he sells the technology that may displace them. In our conversation, he attempted to square that circle with a familiar argument: that technology destroys individual jobs but creates new and better ones, and that the most durable skill is a simple willingness to learn. Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss this week's news about AI and jobs. Sponsored by Atlassian Rovo | Become an AI-native team with Rovo. https://www.atlassian.com/rovo [https://www.atlassian.com/rovo] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Why this founder isn't hiring junior employees anymore

In the sixth (and first live!) episode of the Platformer podcast, Replika and Wabi founder Eugenia Kuyda argues that argues that we are living in "the Microsoft DOS era of AI interfaces," and that we’re desperately in need of a Windows equivalent: an easy-to-use graphical user interface that lets the average person take full advantage of agents and personalized software. When that happens, she predicts, the long tail of subscription-based apps — the calorie counters, meditation apps, and fitness trackers of the world — will start to disappear, replaced by software that we make and share ourselves. Kuyda is our first guest to say plainly that she believes that is a fantasy. The fear of job loss is "super justified," she told me; in her view, AI has made hiring junior employees "extremely expensive and completely unsustainable for a startup," because every hire now competes with the leverage of what she calls a “1,000x engineer.” Can vibe-coded apps truly compete with enterprise software in the way that she hopes? Or will most companies continue to prefer the stability and support that comes with traditional software as a service? On our show, Kuyda breaks some news: after a year in beta, Wabi will launch publicly before the end of the month. Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss this week's news about AI and jobs. Sponsored by Atlassian Rovo | Become an AI-native team with Rovo. https://www.atlassian.com/rovo [https://www.atlassian.com/rovo] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

How to help people who lose their jobs to AI

In the fifth episode of the Platformer podcast, Brookings senior fellow Molly Kinder argues that the AI jobs debate is stuck in a useless seesaw between apocalypse and denial — and that the real danger lies in the "messy middle," where AI doesn't kill most jobs but concentrates its damage on some of the most coveted careers in America. Her rule of thumb: if you can do your job locked in a closet with a computer, you're probably in trouble. Platformer's Casey Newton talks to the author of "The Messy Middle" about why white-collar workers will feel AI before blue-collar workers do, whether AI is about to reverse the 50-year boom in knowledge work, how the jobs that were safest during COVID became the riskiest in the AI era, why de-skilling could quietly turn $85,000 jobs into minimum-wage ones, why cutting everyone a UBI check would destroy the labor market, and what targeted policies — from a workforce reinvestment fund to wage insurance — might actually manage the transition. Kinder also breaks some news: after three years leading Brookings' research on AI and work, she reveals — on her last day at the think tank — that she's launching a new organization devoted to solving, not just studying, the AI jobs problem. Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss this week's news about AI and jobs. Sponsored by Atlassian Rovo | Become an AI-native team with Rovo. https://www.atlassian.com/rovo [https://www.atlassian.com/rovo] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A labor economist explains why AI won't take your job

In the fourth episode of the Platformer podcast, labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards makes the case that the AI jobs panic is overblown — and that the real threat to workers isn't the technology, but a government that refuses to fix the social safety net. She also flatly rejects Sam Altman's vision of a permanently unemployed "idle class," which she calls not just wrong but classist. Platformer's Casey Newton talks to the Bloomberg Opinion columnist and co-host of the Optimist Economy podcast about why economists can't — and shouldn't bother to — pin down exactly how many jobs AI will destroy, whether the recent wave of AI-blamed layoffs is real or just "AI-washing," what's actually squeezing entry-level workers, what she tells new grads who can't find a first job, why writing everyone a UBI check isn't a panacea, and whether Washington will ever build the safety net we already know how to build. Edwards also explains why the closest thing we've seen to an "AI rapture" already happened — in the spring of 2020, when half of the leisure and hospitality industry lost their jobs in three weeks — and how the economy managed to claw its way back. Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss the chipmakers handing out massive bonuses, as workers at Samsung and TSMC win a bigger share of the AI boom. Who else should we have on this show? Let us know at casey@platformer.news. Sponsored by Atlassian Rovo | Become an AI-native team with Rovo. https://www.atlassian.com/rovo [https://www.atlassian.com/rovo] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Claude Code creator Boris Cherny on the end of the software engineer

In the third episode of the Platformer podcast, Claude Code creator Boris Cherny explains how he's automating his own job. He hasn't written a line of code in more than six months, and thinks the title "software engineer" could start to disappear as soon as this year. Platformer's Casey Newton talks to the inventor of the fastest-growing AI coding tool in the world about what Cherny actually means when he says coding is "solved," why he predicts companies will need both far fewer engineers and far more of them, what he tells new computer science grads about where to build a career now, and whether all this added productivity will ever let anyone work less. (Hint: so far, it just means doing more). Cherny also explains the surprise that keeps upending his own predictions: the people getting the most out of AI tools are increasingly electricians, doctors, and carpenters rather than professional engineers. Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss a new Microsoft study on AI and jobs. Disclosure: Casey's fiancé works at Anthropic. Who else should we have on this show? Let us know at casey@platformer.news. Sponsored by Atlassian Rovo | Become an AI-native team with Rovo. https://www.atlassian.com/rovo [https://www.atlassian.com/rovo] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.