Amidst the 2024 Election Chaos, a Lost Voice Representing America, the Forgotten, Prevails.
As I only have the next 30 minutes to type this message on a shared computer, with no further access to my cellphone or contact with the outside world for the next few weeks, I thought I would take the time to recap how my advocacy efforts for ethical AI and workforce preservation came to be and how I ended up in a room surrounded by four white walls.
In November 2023, I was laid off from my job after working for two years as the Director of Business Intelligence for an accounting firm. My role primarily focused on data analytics, which I had done for about ten years. I had a stable life before, was making good money, and saw myself being a data analyst until retirement. I was told ten years ago that "data was the new oil," so I never thought I’d struggle to find a job. Unfortunately, besides the difficulties that losing employment entails, another force beyond my control emerged around the same time I lost my job: artificial intelligence. Some of you may not even know this, but the tech sector has faced market saturation, as many workers have experienced displacement due to tech companies streamlining operations with AI to save costs. I call these displaced workers, including myself: America the Forgotten.
According to my research, tech companies have let go of, on average, 10% of their workforce in the last year. It’s almost impossible to get a first-round interview with a hiring manager due to the high level of filtering by resume systems (ATS). You may find yourself applying to hundreds of jobs you're qualified for, only to be blocked by bots due to formatting issues with your PDF resumes or because the percentage of keywords isn’t high enough to match the job description. I’ve personally tried to master the art of making my PDF resume "bot-friendly" and used ChatGPT to create cover letters to help the AI understand I qualify for the job, just to get a chance to be reviewed by a human manager. But nothing worked. This is a story thousands of displaced tech workers are all too familiar with as the hiring landscape in 2024 has been nothing short of brutal.
As AI reshapes the tech sector, manufacturing, customer service, and more, my research into the weekly wave of layoffs turned into efforts to regulate the same technology that was blocking me from reentering the job market. Around the same time, OpenAI, owner of the AI tool "ChatGPT," announced its latest version, ChatGPT-4o, in November 2023. This update could now threaten not just Hollywood writers but also people like me—data analysts—as the technology could now create bar charts from an uploaded Excel file and answer data analytics questions in a fraction of the time. These were skills I had spent nearly ten years mastering. I realized then that it would become increasingly difficult for people in my field to find jobs as the technology advanced, offering a cheaper alternative to hiring experienced data analysts at six-figure salaries, with a $20/month premium subscription instead. When I first learned about these new capabilities, I was in shock. I physically fell off my couch watching Sam Altman’s keynote (CEO of OpenAI) as he unveiled the ChatGPT plugins. I knew billions of dollars would flow into creating plugins for industries like accounting, potentially automating jobs like junior accountants or bookkeepers that involve repetitive tasks like data entry and copy-pasting.
Through my advocacy efforts, I have reached out by email, phone, and in person to several key government officials in the U.S. and abroad, ultimately receiving an acknowledgment letter from President Joe Biden calling for AI governance and global cooperation. I have been posting updates on my social media channels and nonprofit organization’s website to hold leaders accountable.
Fast forward to the 2024 election showdown—there is an undeniable sense of anxiety as former President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the military on citizens who speak out against his radical views. This includes people like me, who have been active on social media and through a podcast, promoting democracy and freedom of speech.
In my recent research, I came across a BBC interview with Geoffrey Hinton, one of the "Godfathers of AI," who stated that most AI experts agree that within the next 5 to 20 years, there is a 50% chance of AI taking control over humans. Hearing this from one of AI’s creators, combined with Elon Musk’s recent announcement to release 10 billion humanoids into society by 2040, led me to realize that our future may be uncertain and far from bright. These humanoids could replace millions of mundane jobs, accessible only to the wealthy, potentially increasing the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Not to mention the potential risks of them "taking over," as depicted in movies like The Terminator.
In light of a possible Trump-Elon alliance if Donald Trump were to win a second term, and as an advocate for ethical AI and workforce preservation over the past year, I felt compelled to reach out to Judge Foglietta, who is overseeing Elon Musk’s lawsuit regarding an alleged illegal lottery and interference in the 2024 election. I wanted to make him aware of the broader implications of Musk’s potential influence on society, and humanity if he were aligned with Trump as part of the government.
As always, I continued to share my correspondences online, but this time, because I was trying to sway a judge’s decision to sentence Elon Musk, the richest and most powerful person on the planet, to prison for up to five years, I became concerned that publicizing my actions might endanger my safety. With my unique last name, it wouldn’t be difficult to trace me. Feeling uneasy, I called a crisis hotline. From there, I was taken to a residential facility in a police car, beginning a series of behavioral assessments with the staff. After recounting how AI has affected my sector, the IMF’s prediction that 40% of the global workforce could be impacted by AI and automation (up to 60% in developed countries like the U.S.), and the growing concerns among AI experts that AI could surpass human intelligence in the next 5 to 20 years, I was told I was suffering from a psychotic disorder. I was informed that if I wanted to stay in the program, I’d have to accept a sedative pill, which I reluctantly agreed to. Having come here willingly, I would rather be sedated and feel safe than exposed in such unprecedented election times. I hope that maybe this “magic pill” could reverse history or at least ease my struggles in facing this relentless tech expansion. Yet, even though Pandora’s box has been opened, I trust the staff’s experience to help individuals like me feel safe and grounded amid this increasingly unchecked technology, controlled by a handful of powerful individuals at the top.
In the meantime, I will continue my advocacy efforts as a lone voice, doing my best from wherever I am because the stakes in this election could not be higher. The potential fate of the human species may well be decided within the next 48 hours.
