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Ep31 Cuts, Skills & Growth: Goldman Sachs, Klarna, Microsoft, IBM & WEF/Forbes Jobs Impact Reports
Description
Will AI take your job—or just the worst parts of it? In this episode, Ben is joined by Alan Back (30 years in sales leadership across public sector, cloud and PE-backed businesses) to unpack what AI really means for jobs, skills, and the future of work. We cut through the doom to look at where automation actually lands, where augmentation is winning, and how to stay on the right side of the change.
What we cover:
• World Economic Forum jobs outlook: displacement vs creation
• Goldman Sachs’ productivity thesis—what “affected” jobs really means
• Forbes on retraining reality (early careers vs 30-year veterans)
• Klarna’s customer service experiment—when humans come back into the loop
• Big Tech signals: job cuts vs massive AI investment & reskilling
• Stanford’s “green-light” tasks: where workers want AI agents
• Practical playbook: reposition, reskill, and focus on high-value work
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Setting the Scene
00:35 Guest Introduction: Alan’s Background
01:28 Agenda Overview: AI and Job Market
02:39 World Economic Forum Jobs Report
07:39 Goldman Sachs on AI’s Impact
11:54 Forbes Insights on Job Displacement
18:29 Klarna’s AI and Customer Service Experiment
20:53 AI’s Impact on Customer Service
21:35 Job Cuts and AI Investments
22:15 Big Tech’s AI Commitments
23:26 The Growing Demand for AI Skills
24:40 The Future of Work with AI
31:45 Trust and Resistance to AI
35:12 Embracing AI for High-Value Work
41:09 Adapting to the New World of Work
#AIJobs #FutureOfWork #ArtificialIntelligence #Automation #Augmentation #AICareers #Reskilling #Upskilling #CustomerService #AIAgents #Productivity #Workforce #TechTrends #AIEconomy #AIOutcomesPodcast