End of work-from-home? Google DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg predicts AI to kill remote jobs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is widely adopted as a smart assistant that can perform tasks quickly. However, in the coming decade, AI could bring a significant restructure to the traditional digital workforce. Google DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg, in an interview with Professor Hannah Fry, predicted that the “work-from-home” revolution may end soon, with AI replacing several digital roles. The growing adoption of AI may drive the urgency for workers to justify their role and place in the transitioning economy. 

Shane Legg highlighted that AI is transitioning beyond assistance and is moving towards human-level intelligence, which could impact remote jobs and replace cognitive work that involves problem-solving, thinking, and analysis. Legg said, “obs that are purely cognitive and done remotely via a computer are particularly vulnerable.” 

In the coming years, a team of 100 engineers could shrink to only 20 as advanced AI takes place. Hence, it may have a serious impact on remote positions, as well as entry-level positions. Legg also emphasised how AI has already started to outperform humans in areas like general knowledge. And in the coming years, AI tools may offer better reasoning and understanding capabilities, gradually gaining human intelligence. Therefore, AI could soon gain professional abilities and contribute to tasks that require complex knowledge. 

He also highlighted a rule of thumb that said, “If you can do the job remotely over the internet just using a computer, then that job is potentially at risk.”Hence, if your work-from-home role is highly dependent on cognitive abilities, then you may not survive in the evolving job market for a long period. However, the change may happen overnight, but in the coming years.