Cisco President Jitu Patel disagrees with the idea that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs for beginners, who, in his opinion, have their advantages over experienced specialists.
Cisco President Jitu Patel disagrees with the idea that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs for beginners, who, in his opinion, have their advantages over experienced specialists.
"I just refuse to believe that humans will become obsolete. It just seems like an absurd concept," Jitu Patel, who is also chief product officer at AI infrastructure company Cisco, told CNN.
Patel strongly refuted comments by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that AI would lead to a 20% increase in unemployment and eliminate half of all entry-level jobs.
“Dario is a friend of mine. We invest in Anthropic. I have a lot of respect for what he’s done. But I have a different opinion on a few things in this industry,” Patel said Wednesday at the Ai4 artificial intelligence conference in Las Vegas. “I reject the idea that humans are going to be obsolete in five years, that we’re going to have nothing to do and we’re going to sit on the beach… That doesn’t make any sense.”
In particular, Patel believes that companies benefit from hiring younger employees, who often have a better understanding of new technologies.
“If you just say, ‘I’m going to kill all entry-level jobs,’ then in the long run that’s the stupidest thing a company can do, because you’ve essentially cut off the flow of new ideas,” the Cisco executive said.
Patel says that for some jobs, significant experience can be a “huge burden.” For example, he says, people often have certain biases about things that might not have worked five years ago but are effective now.
That's why Patel spends "an enormous amount of time" with junior staff and interns.
“I learn a lot from people who are fresh out of college because they have a fresh and unique perspective. And that perspective, combined with (my) experience, works wonders,” Patel said. “It would be a really bad strategy not to hire people who are just starting out in the profession.”
