Those machines unlocked more work, different work, that led to better paying jobs!

I am all up for AI if it leads to "better" work and jobs but cutting jobs to cut cost sound like a race to bottom!!

Are AI time /cost savings going to help me pursue creative hobbies, open source, help my community without worrying about livelihood then great. If it is a means to make rich people richer by making most of us worse off, maybe we should stop and think for a while?

There may be a risk here that a zero/negative-sum game is advertised as a positive-sum game (e.g war).

Do we have reasons why AI won't do the same "unlocked more work, different work, that led to better paying jobs" ?

One of the issues with [a change] is that some like it and some don't - but is there any reason to believe that society will get worse as a result?

My only real concern is meritocracy. It is hard enough already, but now rich kids can literally buy intelligence?