Recent restructurings fueled by AI and tech sector layoffs are raising alarm bells for workers. But are these decisions actually affirming laborers' long-held beliefs of replacement via automation? AI Now Institute Co-Founder and Chief Advisor Meredith Whittaker notes that similar assumptions on AI "have been rolled back" in the past.

"We need a grain of skepticism here, and I think we need to look at the role that AI plays in providing a pretext for cutting jobs," Whittaker, also the president of the Signal Foundation, tells Yahoo Finance, citing Hollywood writers' protests against studios' adoption of AI programs.

Follow along with Yahoo Finance's AI Revolution special coverage this week, or you can watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: And SAP is the latest tech company to announce a workforce change. The German software giant is restructuring 8,000 jobs as it prioritizes artificial intelligence.

BRAD SMITH: Restructuring and layoffs in the tech sector has sparked fears that investment in AI could start to push out human workers. So how much of this concern is warranted, is the big question. We've got Meredith Whittaker, who is the AI Now Institute Co-Founder and Chief Advisor and President of Signal Foundation.

Meredith, great to have you here with us. You know, as we think about where we're really going to see a delta as a result of AI replacing human workforce, what is the early expectation now? Where is that even perhaps starting to show up in real numbers?

MEREDITH WHITTAKER: Well, great to be here. And I think we need to back up a little bit and recognize that AI isn't going to autonomously replace people's jobs as a product of scientific innovation. That we've seen layoffs in tech before, we've actually seen wage fixing collusion in tech before, which they got caught for-- and there has been a desire to reduce workforces that predates this current moment of AI hype. So we need a grain of skepticism here.

And I think we need to look at the role that AI plays in providing a pretext for cutting jobs. I would look to the Writers Guild of America and the struggle that played out there over the potential of the Hollywood studios introducing AI technologies in ways that the writers, I believe rightly feared, would undermine their livelihoods, would enable paying them less for work that was nonetheless skilled and nonetheless necessary, but was now categorized as less valuable than it was before the introduction of AI.

So I want to be careful with any framing that would presuppose AI is actually capable of replacing jobs, and be a bit skeptical of these claims, particularly when they're made from the very same companies that are looking to profit from licensing and providing AI services to employers.

SEANA SMITH: Hey, Meredith. It's always important to put it in historical context, and exactly what we have seen prior technology advances, how that has impacted the workforce and beyond. Of course, but Meredith, when we take into account what has happened-- and maybe this is also looking back and comparing this historically speaking as well-- the adoption of AI-- how would you compare that to some of the technological advances that we have seen of the past?

And when we talk about the rate of change that maybe we could see in the workforce, whether or not the debate out there about what we were just talking about-- whether or not it's going to replace jobs, if it's simply going to be more of a restructuring and reskilling of the workforce, eventually creating jobs-- what does the timeline look like for that when you have just a-- it seems like by the day, more and more companies talking about their investments in AI and how that's going to shape their company's future?

MEREDITH WHITTAKER: Well, I'm not a clairvoyant. And it's not clear to me what the timeline is. And I say that as somebody who has been witness to many bold prognostications that never came true. 10 years ago, we have AI scientists talking about replacing radiologists. That hasn't happened.

We have predictions about autonomous vehicles surpassing human driven cars that have not happened. And in fact, those predictions have been rolled back. We now have one autonomous vehicle company still operating-- that's Waymo-- as their competitor, Cruise, has been forced off the road due to issues with their functionality, issues with the way that their automated system worked and caused traffic problems.

So I, again, want to be really hesitant with making predictions, particularly when we recognize that a lot of these stats are coming from the same industry that is hoping to find a market fit for this technology that they've invested billions and billions of dollars in developing, producing, and marketing.

BRAD SMITH: How can people in the labor force successfully kind of retool, reskill their own set for a future of perhaps working alongside artificial intelligence?

MEREDITH WHITTAKER: Well, let's be clear. I don't think, in many cases, that workers are the ones who have the power to reshape themselves so that they can work alongside AI. I think what we need is to see increased union density so workers have more leverage over deciding where AI is introduced and how it's used and how their job is structured or restructured.

And I think we need to recognize that in many cases, particularly in the US, which is a very non-union dense labor market, we have a case where workers are not the ones using these systems. Workers are the subjects of these systems. The employer licenses the system, they determine how it's used, they determine how workers interact with it or not. And oftentimes, these systems work quietly in the background.

We can think about new versions of Microsoft Office that are shipped to enterprises that include the option of creating a productivity score about workers that is then sent to management. This is generated through some version of AI, informs management, but cannot be considered something that workers necessarily have knowledge or power over.

BRAD SMITH: All right, Meredith, we got to leave things there on the day. Meredith Whittaker is the AI Now Institute Co-Founder and Chief Advisor and President of Signal Foundation. Thanks for taking the time here today.

MEREDITH WHITTAKER: Great to be here. Thank you.