Will AI Lead to Mass Unemployment? | C:\Takes | Coatue

AI will undoubtedly eliminate some tasks, but history suggests it will also create entirely new opportunities.

Sector Head Max Cook looks past the speculation and examines the historical precedent for technological displacement. When we look at past innovations that were predicted to replace workers at scale, a clear pattern emerges:

The tractor (1917): Agricultural employment fell from 12M to 3.5M. However, those displaced workers went on to build the cities and factories of a new industrial era.

The ATM (1973): Despite predictions of a 75% drop in bank teller jobs, teller employment actually grew 81% by 1988.

The spreadsheet (late 1970s): Forecasts warned it would eliminate clerical jobs entirely. Instead, while bookkeeping declined, accounting and financial analysis grew rapidly.

The takeaway: Displacement is real, but mass permanent unemployment is not. In fact, 60% of the jobs that exist today did not exist in 1940 - not in spite of technological change, but because of it.