AGI is coming, fast.
Most jobs will be eliminated.
Those displaced will depend on UBI with low odds of generating wealth or moving upwards. This is known as the "permanent underclass".
The only known escape route is owning a piece of the cake before this happens.
Signal feed
CEO of Anthropic
"AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years... an unemployed or very-low-wage 'underclass.'"
CEO of Anthropic
"We might be 6 to 12 months away."
Founder of the Forward Party
"It's becoming increasingly clear that AI is going to kick millions of knowledge workers to the curb and our political class won't do a damn thing while our way of life gets changed forever."
Framed as a near-term political failure case: rapid labor displacement without structural relief.
CEO of OpenAI
"It was amazing to watch how much faster we were able to ship 5.3-Codex by using 5.3-Codex, and for sure this is a sign of things to come."
AI entrepreneur
"Think back to February 2020. If you were paying close attention, you might have noticed a few people talking about a virus spreading overseas. But most of us weren't paying close attention. The stock market was doing great, your kids were in school, you were going to restaurants and shaking hands and planning trips. If someone told you they were stockpiling toilet paper you would have thought they'd been spending too much time on a weird corner of the internet..."
AI observer
this is absolutely insane, just look at the progress from gemini 3 deepthink... if you can't see what's happening, and what's coming this year there's very little i can say. but it's about to hit you like a truck.
Digital artist
PERMANENT UNDERCLASS
source: Grok 4.1 with 237 datapoints
Next
Short, practical moves to stay ahead.
Finance
Start saving money
We don't know what's coming, so build up savings and avoid new debt. Don't assume your income will remain intact.
Coping
Do not dismiss this
The most common reaction is dismissing. It's called normalcy bias. But the worst thing you could do for yourself right now is trying to convince yourself this is just a fad that will eventually pass. You need to ACT.
Equity
Invest + get a slice of the pie
Accumulate equity and assets that benefit from AI-driven growth. This can mean investing in AI companies or creating your own.
Practice
Pay for the best models available
Pay for the top-tier AI models, avoid default model settings.
Embrace
Start applying AI to YOUR work
Don't play with AI. Treat it like a coworker. Delegate entire REAL tasks to it. Start with the task that consumes most of your week.
Advantage
Stay adaptable
We don't know what the future looks like, but we do know only those who adapt fast survive.