AI Is Destroying Gen Z's Chances at a Stable Career

In 1986, an inventor named David Humble rolled out the first self-checkout machine to a Kroger outside of Atlanta. It was a watershed moment for shop owners at the time, who hoped to "increase store profits" and "alleviate labor shortages" — another way to say "avoid hiring workers above the national minimum wage," which was then $3.35 per hour, and just $7.25 today. Fast forward 39 years, and self-checkout has taken the world by storm. Today, there are over 217,000 self-checkout terminals installed throughout the world, a technology which labor experts estimate eliminates 35 to 40 percent of entry-level retail jobs within 12 months of operation in any given store. But with constant outages, unsettling surveillance schemes, and millions of unexpected items in the bagging area, who really benefits from all this tech? That's a question Gen Z is being forced to grapple with in an imminent way. Not just with self-checkout, but with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence over th ... Read full article.