GameStop CEO Warns AI Automation Could Weaken Jobs and Consumer Demand
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen said rapid technological change could reduce human job prospects and consumer demand, and speculated that people might attack increasingly capable robots. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis also voiced concerns about AI-related risks.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME ) CEO Ryan Cohen warned that humans could become so frustrated by increasingly capable machines that they attack robots, potentially triggering a man-versus-machine conflict that he speculated could even become World War III. A ‘Man Versus Machine’ Fight Speaking with entrepreneur and investor Anthony Pompliano at the Silvia Investor Summit on Wednesday, Cohen said he does not expect machines to attack people first. The risk, he said, is that humans get “so fed up by how productive and how much smarter the robots are than us” that they end up attacking the machines, which then attack back.
That is how it “ends up being man versus machine,” Cohen said, adding, “whether that ends up being World War III, I don’t know.” Jobs, Demand and ‘Utility ‘ Cohen’s bigger worry is the economy. He said the pace of technological change leaves humans with “very little utility,” and high unemployment would weigh on consumer demand, creating “a domino effect that is not good.” For desk jobs, “the machine is far superior,” and robots are “probably less than a few years away” from beating people at physical work too, he added. Other Leaders Raise the Alarm JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(NYSE: JPM ) CEO Jamie Dimon, speaking at The Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday, compared AI to the Industrial Revolution but said it is moving far faster, “ more like a tsunami.” He cautioned that agents authorized to make payments would need customers’ bank codes, without knowing if they “are going to act properly on your behalf and they may not.” Demis Hassabis, chair of Alphabet Inc. ’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Google DeepMind, called attacks involving AI agents “ early warning shots ” that could become major incidents within the next couple of years without stronger security.
A Lancet Commission assessment last week identified malicious use of AI and nuclear conflict as the two threats with ‘extinction-potential’ by 2100, while stressing that the likelihood of either remains low. Price Action: GameStop’s shares closed 3.20% higher on Thursday at $28.02. In early pre-market trading on Friday, it fell 0.29%. Edge rankings indicate GameStop’s stock has a Momentum score in the 84th percentile and a Growth score in the 83rd percentile.
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