All the nonsense that AI will have a moderate impact on the workforce has proven to be a lie.
In an interview, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Bill Winters, said the bank will eliminate 7,800 jobs and will hit “lower value workers” at the bank. In their place, the bank will deploy AI systems. 
Standard Chartered is a major lender in Asia and Africa and the layoffs will be in those offices.
So who are these “lower value workers”?
Winters did not go into details, but in an earnings call, he said the bank seeks to imporve productivity while lowering costs and this will be done via AI.
“We are scaling practical uses of automation, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve decision‑making, and enhance both client service and internal efficiency,” he said during the earnings presentation.
Winters also insisted, “It’s not cost-cutting, it’s replacing low-value human capital with financial and investment capital.” The substitution of workers in favor of machines will accelerate as we go forward into AI.”
Banks have many routine processes in their lending, trading, and back-office operations that could be replaced with AI.
But the bank is making these changes in AI, and it’s only a matter of time before these layoffs will happen in Manhattan, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other banking centers.
The news about major AI advances, the construction of billion-dollar data centers, and the consolidation of AI services also means that individual workers have no recourse from the machines. This is not science fiction. It is a development that will reduce the prospects of many younger people to find entry-level jobs.
Bank tellers and others on hourly salaries are looking over their shoulders since the impending layoffs will come fast and hard.
