AI Can’t Do Your Job. So Why Are Companies Laying Off Employees?
In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I break down the rise in mass layoffs and organizations restructuring. Many headlines claim this is AI starting to take jobs, but that’s not really true. AI is involved in these decisions, just not for the reasons people think.
Whether AI can do your job or not (and it probably can’t) is likely irrelevant to the fate of the job itself. So I explain what’s actually happening in the workforce today, what we can expect going forward, and what we should be doing right now to stay ahead of it.
0:00 – Why these layoffs are happening
1:30 – How companies are reallocating capital toward AI
3:00 – Why organizations are becoming more flexible and startup-like
6:00 – How “anticipatory restructuring” works
9:00 – What skills will matter in the AI-first era
12:00 – Why full-time roles will evolve
16:00 – Why jobs are going away, but work isn’t
Listen to the show on other platforms:
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ive-got-questions-with-sinead-bovell/id1841491246
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/2fwK9NSJGXlFdVkYZ14a8O
Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell
--------
17:25
--------
17:25
AI Is Moving Faster Than Governments Can Think | Anna Makanju (OpenAI's VP of Global Affairs)
In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Anna Makanju, Vice President of Global Affairs at OpenAI, to explore how governments around the world are racing to understand AI’s implications, the geopolitical tensions shaping its regulation, and what it will take to ensure this technology benefits every nation.
We discuss how AI could be immensely beneficial to humanity, but why Anna believes it won’t happen by default; the urgent challenge of unequal AI access and the risk of leaving communities and entire countries behind.
00:00 – Introduction
01:10 – Will AI Be a Benefit to Humanity?
02:00 – Can the World Cooperate on AI?
03:30 – AI as a Tool of Global Power
05:00 – When Companies Rival Nations
07:30 – How Do We Keep Half the World from Being Left Behind?
09:20 – The ChatGPT Moment That No One Expected
11:00 – Inside OpenAI’s Global Tour
13:00 – How World Leaders Reacted to AI Demos
15:00 – Why Governments Focus Only on Deepfakes
17:30 – The Private vs. Public Conversation on AGI
19:00 – “It Could Be Immensely Beneficial — But It Won’t Happen by Default”
21:00 – The Problem with Policymakers Who Don’t Use AI
23:00 – Fear, Misuse, and the Lawyer Who Used ChatGPT in Court
25:30 – When AI Actually Saves Lives
27:00 – What Happens When AI Enters Government
29:00 – Balancing Risk, Access, and Innovation
31:00 – Why Emerging Economies Are More Optimistic About AI
33:30 – The Future of Jobs and the Need for Reskilling
36:00 – How Fast Can Humanity Adapt?
38:30 – The Case for a New Social Safety Net
40:00 – Preparing for the Next Decade of Change
42:30 – Why Governments Must Act Before a Crisis
44:00 – Smarter Models, Safer Systems
45:30 – What Comes After Regulation
47:00 – Building a Future That Works for Everyone
Listen to the show on other platforms:
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ive-got-questions-with-sinead-bovell/id1841491246
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/2fwK9NSJGXlFdVkYZ14a8O
Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell
--------
1:07:04
--------
1:07:04
A Once In A Lifetime Career Reset Is Coming | Alexander Manu
In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with futurist, author, and strategic foresight professor Alexander Manu to explore how AI is reshaping the meaning of work, creativity, and identity.
He explains how technology has always been a bridge to new forms of human expression, and how AI may usher in the most creative, personalized era of human history.
Manu argues that we need to transcend the idea that our identity is tied to our jobs because
AI is not just another tool that will change the workforce, but it’s also a mirror forcing us to ask, “What else can I become?”
0:00 – Introduction
1:15 – Why AI Makes You Ask, “What Else Can I Become?”
3:00 – The End of the Beginning for AI
5:30 – How AI Challenges Our Professional Identity
8:15 – Why Refusing New Tools Makes Us Less Relevant
11:00 – Will AI Invent a New Kind of Artist?
14:10 – From Creator to Narrator: The Next Creative Economy
16:00 – The Future of Shopping and Personalized Design
18:30 – Why the Influencer Era Will End
22:00 – Social Media’s Next Evolution
25:00 – The Philosophical Shift Toward “Becoming”
27:00 – The Device That Will Replace the Smartphone
30:00 – Ambient Computing and the Disappearing Interface
35:00 – The Meaning of Work in the Age of AI
39:00 – Universal Basic Income and the New Economic Model
43:00 – Why We Must Redefine Human Value Beyond Productivity
46:00 – Redesigning Society in the Age of AI
49:00 – The Real Meaning of Life in an Automated World
Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell
--------
56:35
--------
56:35
Leading AI Professor: We Must Address AI's Climate Impact Before It’s Too Late | Kate Crawford
In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with leading AI scholar Kate Crawford, professor at USC, and author of award-winning Atlas of AI to examine the environmental, social, and ethical costs of artificial intelligence.
We break down how AI is an extension of earth’s resources with giant data centers that use huge amounts of electricity, water, and minerals. We discuss how this is putting pressure on the planet and on communities that often go unseen.
Kate breaks down how the global “AI race” between countries is creating new risks and what it will take from us to build technology that helps both people and the planet.
0:00 – Introduction
1:00 – Why Kate Crawford Says AI Isn’t “Virtual” — It’s Industrial
2:30 – The Hidden Environmental Cost of AI Models
4:05 – How AI Competes with Humans for Survival Resources
6:00 – Data Centers, Fossil Fuels, and Real-World Harm to Communities
8:00 – The Illusion of “Efficiency” and the Jevons Paradox
10:30 – How Behavioral Change Fuels the AI Explosion
12:00 – What Happens If We Don’t Change How We Build AI
14:00 – Why China’s Energy Strategy Is Beating the U.S.
16:00 – The False Choice: National Security or the Planet
18:00 – Shifting Responsibility from Individuals to Systems
20:00 – The Structural Design Failure Behind AI’s Carbon Footprint
22:00 – How Race Dynamics and Geopolitics Drive Destructive AI Growth
24:00 – Why Concentrated AI Power Threatens Democracy
26:00 – Nationalism, Cooperation, and the Future of Global AI Policy
28:00 – Why Technology Is Never Neutral
30:00 – The Myths and Realities of “AI for Climate”
32:00 – What Smaller, Efficient AI Could Look Like
33:00 – The Billionaire Empire Behind the AI Revolution
35:00 – AI as the Continuation of Historical Power Structures
38:00 – The Long Arc of Empires and Industrial Transformations
39:30 – When Private Tech Companies Rival Nation States
41:00 – The Next Three Years: The Most Consequential in AI History
43:00 – The Rising Threat of AI-Driven Misinformation
44:00 – The Dangerous Defunding of Science and Research
46:00 – Could a Brain Drain Lead to New Global Research Centers?
47:30 – What Individuals Can Do to Shape the AI Future
48:30 – Closing Reflections
Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell
--------
49:08
--------
49:08
The Microbiologist: The Science That Could End Disease (And Create Life) | Andrew Hessel
In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Andrew Hessel, microbiologist, geneticist, author and pioneering voice in synthetic biology, a field that is redefining how we understand and engineer life itself.
We explore what happens when biology becomes programmable and every cell, virus, and even our own DNA can be edited, rewritten, and redesigned.
Andrew explains how breakthroughs in digital biology could make infertility a thing of the past, why diseases like cancer and diabetes could soon be treated at the cellular level, and how a new era of genetic surgery could let us reprogram our bodies before illness ever begins.
We also unpack the ethical, emotional, and philosophical questions of what it means to live in a world where we can literally reprogram life.
Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/SineadBovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/sineadbovell
I've Got Questions is your front-row seat to understanding how AI and emerging technologies are reshaping our world and your life.
Hosted by futurist Sinead Bovell, the show cuts through the noise to explore what’s happening beneath the surface of today’s biggest tech shifts, and what they signal about tomorrow.
Each week, Sinead sits down with the people building the tools, setting the policies, and shaping the ideas that will define the next chapter of human life.
These are conversations designed to help you understand what’s changing, anticipate where things are heading, and steer toward the futures you want to live in.