AI is here - Barclays is cutting 5,000 jobs

I think it is very worrying for our young people, lots of desk based jobs are disappearing along with manufacturing to AI and robotics.

Let’s hope they turn to hands on careers like plumbers, electricians, hairdressing, beauty, construction, nursing, care work etc.

I think it’s all very sad and AI has been “allowed” to develop and move on far too quickly.

On a personal note I wish your SiL well in regaining employment.

I’m not against AI per se, but feel it could result in too many job losses too quickly and actually result in “lazy” processes.

I also think the UK were a bit slow in ensuring they had a handle on those with the experience and ability to develop AI and I partially hold the government to account and responsible for this situation.

The more I think about it I can see the animation film WALL-E
becoming our new reality.
Just substitute our planet for the space station…

This is what I find frightening. The speed by which AI will generate code.

Apparently the new IT frontier will be the verification of what is generated through related test runs, feeding the results back into to AI to polish the code.

As you say Fried, it is scary.

Yes it is scary

My son is a graphic artist too. I was worried about him before but even more now FGT!

I also think it's very worrying, especially for the younger generation. There's always a downside with something that has the potential to be wonderful like the internet. Sadly it's also been used also for very wicked purposes.

Will the benefits of Al outweigh the obvious downsides, the shrinking job market, the huge data centres that will consume enormous amounts of resources? how will that impact society's simultaneous needs for our short supply of water for example? As other have said it's all developing at a rate of knots. Particularly perplexing is the alarmist announcements from the very people who are at the forefront of driving it along, They should be the ones who should have had the safeguards in place, so I wonder why they bother telling the population their fears when they've acted like The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the first place in letting the Genie well and truly out of the bottle

Going back to Barclays, I imagine the mass move to banking on line has meant that branches need fewer staff and then they disappear from towns altogether. We're lucky, we have a Lloyds, Nat West and Barclays who I bank with. Whilst I only visit my branch occasionally, I had to the other day, it's very nice to have an actual human being to consult. Not being able to when everything becomes automated will leave a huge void.

This is the time to encourage kids into trades, my son did a 5 year apprenticeship then decided to go back to education and became a surveyor, he now is considering going back to the tools as he calls it, working with his hands and AI can't replace his trade.

If I were in my 20s now I would very seriously consider what sort of world I would be bringing children into.

Sadly I have no grandchildren, but if I had I would be tremendously worried for their future. I worry for my ACs future anyway. Is there a future? Thats the big question.

It’s the 21st century Industrial Revolution.

MrP did a 6 year apprenticeship as a compositor.
To wards the end of his apprenticeship letterpress was dying and litho was coming in.
Another 3 year apprenticeship ( we are now at 9 years of apprenticeship without getting a journeyman’s wages.
Then when he was 40 some clever dick invented the apple Mac.
Nobody needed all the skills these men had trained years for.
But 😉 each time there was this huge change in the printing trade, it created work.

These redundancies by Barclays are nothing new. It’s because it’s a worldwide name.
Tech companies have been making redundancies for about 5 years but they don’t make headlines because the numbers are small for each company, plus a lot of these people accept the payoff and sign a no disclosure agreement.

I said on another thread that a family member left his job in it, & went into roofing- I was more or less told I was talking rubbish.
My niece is a graphic designer too, she has also said AI will eventually do her job better than she could ever do.
It is frightening how fast these AI centres are being built.
Careful of what we wish for is what I say.

Not in it 🤦‍♀️

I remember when, post COVID, banks only let in one person at a time and the queue outside was subjected to a barrage of recommendations from staff to use online or app based banking. Then, a few years later, the chairmen of NatWest said they were closing our local branch (as well as many others) because there was little demand for branch banking. Cause or effect?

Really no more than we have had before ."The wheels on the bus"

when robots were first mentioned we, the general public , thought , good do the manual jobs, especially the hard ones, like mining for example...

now taking the easier, non physical jobs,, I will keep my thoughts to myself,.. but for our grandchildren.. prayers are needed

China has forbidden companies to make people redundant on account of AI. But that’s China..I think all governments should implement a substantial “tax” for companies replacing people with AI and create a fund to finance support for people who lost jobs. If this is the future, majority of jobs will be replaced by AI, and that’s fine as long as humanity can support people from benefits created by AI. We need to prevent that only individuals and companies benefit from it. I am against socialism by definition but I think we will need to migrate to more socialist society.

It frightening tbh, there will be very few jobs available in a few short years, everything will be AI, life and the world will be changed forever and I don't believe in a good way. The future isn't looking good.

It’s not only grandkids and young people we need to empathise with. DS is in his late fifties and in the business department of a huge law firm. He and scores of others have just been made redundant due to AI.

In job-seeking his age may well tell against him, despite his skills and experience, and so will the fact that there are now hundreds of similarly qualified people to compete against in the new career market.

It must be a huge worry for him Indiebee. Maybe, like my son in law he will just get a J-O-B any kind, in the interim. Puts food on the table as my son in law said. Yes dispiriting for him but he has the right attitude.

So many people are loosing their jobs/income. Terrible state of affairs. I’m so sad for everyone who has and who will as time goes on. Many thousands will be without work. Awful way to depress the nation. You son-in-law has the best attitude. Wish everyone good health. Better than anything else, take my word! Families stick together love each other and support in any way you can. God Bless. 💐🙏🏻

Agree not a great looking future for anyone but we must carry on! 🙏🏻💐

Agree with you Desire.

I am sitting in the dark and the cold wearing bed socks, track suit, a furry dressing gown holding a cold furry hot water bottle!
We have no electricity, no running water. Bore Hole. So reading Grandsnet with what is left on my phone battery. I am nearly 80! What a joy all this is. But we will survive. Have before will do again ! Happy Sunday everyone. 🙆‍♀️

Who do you think is going supply these DATA centres?
Who’s going to clean them etc etc.

www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/2026/2026-global-ai-jobs-barometer-full-report.pdf.