The New Workforce: AI Agents Are Coming for Every Job

Pivot 5
May 12, 2025

Pivot 5 is the must-read daily AI briefing for 500,000+ CEOs and business leaders who need signal, not noise.

Chip Stocks Surge as US and China Strike Tariff Relief Deal

The U.S. and China have agreed to cut tariffs on each other’s technology products, triggering a broad rally in chip and tech stocks worldwide. This signals renewed cooperation after years of escalating trade tensions linked to semiconductors and critical tech components.
Major indexes like the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped as much as 2.6%, with companies like AMD, Nvidia, TSMC, and SMIC among top gainers. Investors responded positively as both countries pledged to reduce technology barriers and support stable supply chains.
The move immediately eases pressure on several cross-border tech suppliers and reduces uncertainty in global AI hardware flows. It also marks the first significant policy coordination on tech trade since the earlier waves of export controls and restrictions.

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Researchers created LegoGPT, a language model that learns by physically interacting with Lego bricks, without relying on internet data. The goal is to build AI systems that develop intelligence through embodied experience instead of massive online datasets.
The project uses a robotic arm, webcam, and natural language prompts to instruct the AI to build Lego structures and learn from trial and error. LegoGPT improves performance by grounding language in physical outcomes rather than static text.
This experiment marks a shift toward more human-like learning processes in AI by removing dependence on online data. It suggests new paths for AI training rooted in perception and interaction instead of digital-scale text ingestion.

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IBM is rolling out a blueprint for how enterprise clients can deploy AI agents to automate complex workflows. It plans to help clients move beyond chatbots toward autonomous agents that can handle higher-value tasks across departments.
The strategy includes combining IBM’s Watsonx platform, consulting services, and prebuilt industry solutions to accelerate adoption. IBM says enterprises are already piloting AI agents for use cases like claims processing, procurement, and HR tasks.
IBM’s focus signals a shift from AI experimentation to operational deployment among large organizations. The company is positioning itself to capitalize on growing C-suite demand for measurable AI-driven outcomes.

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Companies are rapidly deploying autonomous AI agents to handle customer support, replacing human agents in tasks like refunds and account services. These bots operate without hand-holding, acting on a customer’s behalf through websites and apps.
Major players like Klarna, Expedia, and Shopify are already integrating agent-based systems that interact directly with company infrastructures. Some execs are pushing for agents to become the default interface for customer communication.
This shift reduces cost and boosts efficiency, but also introduces new risks in trust, control, and accountability. As bots gain more autonomy, companies are confronting a fundamental change in how they build—and potentially erode—customer relationships.

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Leading figures in Silicon Valley see AI not as a tool for enhancing work, but as a means of fully automating and replacing human labor. This mindset marks a shift from previous tech revolutions that centered on productivity and augmentation to one driven by autonomy and exclusion.
Comments from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others indicate a belief that most jobs are ultimately automatable. This perspective is reflected in startup pitches, venture funding strategies, and the public statements of AI leaders advocating a future with minimal human labor.
This ideology is economically destabilizing and socially corrosive, as it erodes the moral value of work and civic participation. Designing AI with the goal of obsoleting jobs threatens to concentrate power and wealth while undermining democratic institutions is a major threat.

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