Stuart Russell, one of the world’s most respected AI researchers, says governments are massively underestimating the economic shock coming as artificial intelligence accelerates. After four decades in the field, the UC Berkeley professor warns that society is “staring 80% unemployment in the face,” with both highly skilled and entry-level roles at risk.
Russell told the “Diary of a CEO” podcast that AI systems are rapidly mastering tasks once considered uniquely human, from surgery and medicine to logistics, accounting, and software engineering. He argues that even elite professions aren’t safe: a robot could learn to outperform a human surgeon “in seven seconds.”
The disruption, he said, could reach the very top of corporate hierarchies. Russell predicts that CEOs could eventually be replaced if boards see AI-powered leadership outperforming human executives. Industry leaders like Google’s Sundar Pichai and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have already suggested that much of a CEO’s job could be automated.
Major companies are already citing AI as a factor in layoffs, including IBM, HP, Salesforce, and Klarna. Russell believes the long-term trajectory points toward organisations with very few human employees.
Beyond economics, he warns of a deeper human crisis. If machines take over all productive work, society will be forced to redefine meaning, purpose, and contribution. Without deliberate planning, he says, humanity risks drifting into a passive, entertainment-driven existence that undermines long-term wellbeing.
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