• ArbitraryValue
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    2 days ago

    I’m sure AI would replace executives (at least in publicly held companies) the moment that doing so would be profitable.

    • Stamets@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      That’s the thing. They’ve proven that it’s profitable now. They’ve shown in countless different sectors that slashing jobs and replacing them with AI has been profitable. They’ve never done it at the executive level because they’d be voting in their own redundancy. They, unlike 99% of those other sectors, actually get to have a say in what happens here. Why would they ever willingly kill their own jobs? They’ll slash everyone elses first to raise their profits as much as humanly possible. I genuinely don’t see that ever changing unless some Delamain type shit happening where the AI gains enough ability to forcibly takeover the company without anyone ever noticing.

      • ArbitraryValue
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        2 days ago

        I think you may be conflating the executives of a (publicly held) corporation and the corporation itself. Even executives are ultimately still employees. They’re trying to maximize profits because that’s their job, not because they get to keep the profits. They can be fired by the board of directors (and through it the stockholders) and they will be fired and replaced if the board decides that someone else (either another human or an AI) would do a better job.

        I’m ignoring a lot of complications but I think that what I wrote is a good general description.

        • Jax
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          2 days ago

          Idk man, the simple math of CEOs being given bigger and bigger bonuses - seemingly across the corporate board - tells me what you’re saying is wrong.

          • RedstoneValley
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            2 days ago

            It really depends on the company structure. Oftentimes a company is a subsidiary of another company. The CEOs of those companies are usually employees

            Edit: But you are right about the boni

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          CEOs very commonly serve as board members for their friends’ companies. In many instances they’re the same thing.

        • Stamets@lemmy.worldOP
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          2 days ago
          1. The amount that executives get paid (Especially when connected to efficiency levels) says you are dead wrong. They do get to keep the profit. High the profit margins, the higher their bonuses, the higher their salaries when renegotiating.

          2. The board only gets their information from who, exactly? The executives. Who run the business day to day and who actually have more of a vested interest than the board. The board of directors doesn’t magically aquire this data. They get it from the executives who are hired with the sole purpose of running that business in the best possible way to maximize profit and revenue for the board.

          You wrote a good general description but you completely missed my point.

      • vin@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 days ago

        Nvidia and Microsoft are investing in agentic AI. Boards might end up finding one that they can trust.

      • NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        This makes me wonder if the endgame is having everyone in a company, including executives, replaced by AI. Then the AI execs rehiring humans in every non-exec/managerial position.