Tech Workers Face Evaporating Financial Security as AI Transforms Industry

The biggest winners of the American economy fear they’re sinking fast - Anchorage Daily News

Donate to ADN today

Subscribe Log in/Log outOpens in new window Donate to ADNOpens in new window Games All content Business/EconomyShow Business/Economy sub sections Energy

Alaska NewsShow Alaska News sub sections Anchorage Mat-Su Rural Alaska Education Science Wildlife Aviation Military Crime & Courts

PoliticsShow Politics sub sections Alaska Legislature

ADN Politics Podcast OpinionsShow Opinions sub sections National Opinions Editorials Letters to the Editor

Nation/World Arts and EntertainmentShow Arts and Entertainment sub sections Books Film and TV Music

Outdoors/Adventure SportsShow Sports sub sections High School Sports UAA Athletics Skiing Hockey National Sports

Alaska LifeShow Alaska Life sub sections Food and Drink Travel Gardening Advice

Lawless Visual Stories Iditarod Alaska Journal of CommerceOpens in new window The Arctic Sounder The Bristol Bay Times e-Edition Today's PaperOpens in new window Obituaries Legal NoticesOpens in new window Calendar EventsShow Events sub sections Peak 2 Peak EventsOpens in new window Educator of the YearOpens in new window Celebrating NursesOpens in new window Top 40 Under 40Opens in new window Alaska Spelling BeeOpens in new window Alaska Craft Brew Festival Best of Alaska Spring Career FairOpens in new window Achievement in Business Youth Summit Awards

PromotionsShow Promotions sub sections Four Peaks 4 Weeks Giveaway Salmonfest 2026

Special SectionsShow Special Sections sub sections 2026 Summer Camp GuideOpens in new window 2025 Best of AlaskaOpens in new window Alaska Visitors Guide 2026Opens in new window Alaska Health CareOpens in new window 2025 Emergency Preparedness & SafetyOpens in new window Senior Living in AlaskaOpens in new window

Alaska Visitors Guide ADN StoreOpens in new window Reprints MarketplaceShow Marketplace sub sections ClassifiedsOpens in new window JobsOpens in new window Place an AdOpens in new window

Contact UsShow Contact Us sub sections Customer Service Advertise Careers at ADNOpens in new window

Sponsored Content Archives Newspapers.com archivesOpens in new window

Nation/WorldThe biggest winners of the American economy fear they’re sinking fast By Elizabeth Dwoskin, Shira Ovide, The Washington Post Published: 8 hours ago

A car passes Facebook's Meta logo on a sign at the company headquarters on Oct. 28, 2021, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) SAN FRANCISCO - Throughout a nearly two-decade career, Susan Smith considered herself a winner in the American economic lottery. She moved easily between tech jobs, earning a salary of more than $500,000 in her most recent position, as a mid-tier executive at Meta. A single mom, Smith could afford two nannies and support her disabled son without financial worry. But as Silicon Valley has pushed headlong into artificial intelligence and heavy job cuts, that security has evaporated. Smith once readily put in 70-hour workweeks, believing the tech giant’s apps benefited humanity and that her contributions were highly valued. That feeling eroded in her last role, helping executives train new “AI employees,” part of an internal mandate that managers treat AI systems as real team members. She survived four rounds of layoffs at Meta, but in May, the company let her go.

Now Smith is confronting a job market that looks nothing like that era of plenty. Few positions are available in her field, and several places where she’s applied haven’t called her back. Her ex-husband, a designer at Meta who was laid off in 2020, eventually gave up looking for jobs in his profession. He now lifts boxes at a warehouse. Since the Great Recession nearly 20 years ago, political and corporate leaders have hailed Silicon Valley as a bright spot of American dynamism as the industry sped away economically from the rest of the United States. Young Americans, particularly those at elite universities, flocked to tech over Wall Street and made computer science by far the fastest-growing large major at U.S. colleges since 2008. Breaking into the ranks of Meta, Google or SpaceX offered a trapping of cushy excess and entrance to the Silicon Valley corporate religion that a random software widget could change the world. By most objective measures, America’s tech capitals remain superstar winners of the economy. Only the workers say they don’t feel that way. Their ingrained optimism has given way to a feeling that a Hunger Games-level scarcity is now the new normal. ADVERTISEMENT

Smith counts herself among the ranks of the disillusioned, though she said she’s not pessimistic about the technology itself. “I just don’t personally see the point of doing it just to make a couple of people quadruple trillionaires,” she said. The sense of precariousness among America’s professional elite could be a preview of what’s ahead for the rest of the country as AI spreads. Silicon Valley...

Tech Workers Face Evaporating Financial Security as AI Transforms Industry

Related Articles

(no title)

Scientists reverse brain aging, with a nasal spray

AI has torched the market for junior programmers

Al Vigier: Canada's AI strategy shouldn't include secret Palantir bills

The Anatomy of an AI-Native Org