They Sent Our Jobs Overseas. Now They're Giving Them to AI. When Will They Learn?

Hello Beautiful Souls,

After a long conversation with my dad the other day, I kept coming back to one question. Not about politics. Not about technology. About choices. And who pays for them.

The other day, I sat down with him. Nothing unusual - just enjoying some routine traditional coffee, a bit of silence, then the kind of conversation that starts with "How's work? " and ends with us staring blankly at the TV.

We ended up talking about jobs. About security. About AI.

And by the end, I wasn't angry. I was just… exhausted . Because we've all seen this movie before.

The First Betrayal: Offshoring

That's where it started. Dad said something that stopped me cold.

Back in the 80s and 90s, the West thought it was being brilliant. Capitalist genius. Why pay a factory worker in Detroit or Manchester a living wage - or even a minimum wage salary - when you could pay someone in a so-called "third world" country a fraction of that?

So, they moved everything. Factories closed. Towns emptied. And the same products that cost a few dollars to make were shipped back and sold for ten times the price.

The logic was simple: more profit, fatter pockets and who cares about the local job market?

Except … they forgot something. You can’t dismantle your own industrial base and expect to stay in control forever.

The Backfire Nobody Saw Coming

For years, Asia - especially China - did the work. Low pay. Long hours. Repetitive execution. The West called it cheap labor . But what was really happening was a decades-long apprenticeship in manufacturing, logistics, computers and now high tech.

They got better . faster . More efficient .

Now the East doesn’t just make our iPhones. They design their own. They build better trains, faster renewables, smarter AI. And the currency is starting to follow. The geopolitical leverage the West once assumed was permanent? It’s slipping .

Meanwhile, what’s left in the West? Service jobs. Gig work. Call centers. The kind of work that doesn’t exercise your brain, let alone pay your rent. Every month there’s a headline: “Jobs added!” Then a week later: “Job losses at record high”.

We didn’t fix the offshoring wound. We just put a bandage on it and called it a “post-industrial economy ”.

And Now… AI?

So, after all that - after watching factories leave, after watching communities crumble, after watching graduates work two or even three jobs just to survive - what’s the next great move?

Give the remaining jobs to AI. Really ?

We’re not talking about empowering people to use AI. We’re talking about replacing them. Chatbots instead of support agents. Algorithms instead of junior analysts. Automation instead of apprenticeship.

Haven’t we learned a single thing?

If empowering the East for cheap labor came back to bite us, what happens when we empower AI - which has no loyalty, no local economy to support, no vote - to replace millions more?

What the Capitalists Don’t Seem to Get

You can demotivate people. You can break them. You can make them feel redundant. And sure, maybe the stock market stays high for a quarter or two.

But what happens when trust is gone? When an entire generation grows up believing that no matter what degree they get, no matter how hard they work, the system will replace them with something cheaper - first a worker overseas, then a server in a cloud?

Confidence isn’t infinite. And neither is patience.

But offshoring wasn't the only lesson we ignored. There was also the crash of 2008. The bailouts. The cutbacks. The rise of the gig economy where a full-time job became a "contractor" with no benefits. That was the second betrayal. We called it "economic restructuring". But it was just another way of telling people they were disposable.

AI and Humans: Together, Not One Over the Other

Look, I’m not anti-AI. AI is amazing, I definitely use it in my line of work. It can diagnose diseases, optimize supply chains, translate languages in real time. It does things many we can’t.

But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t have conscience . And it certainly doesn’t have empathy .

We live in a world built on human interaction. I don’t want AI answering a call when I’ve just lost a loved one. I don’t want a robotic voice at a drive-thru when I’m already having a bad day. These aren’t anti-tech complaints. They’re common sense.

So here’s a radical idea: what if we had a human worker quota?

Some countries already enforce DEI or citizen of the countries hiring quotas. Why not a human-to-AI ratio?

A requirement that in any customer-facing or decision-critical role, humans make up the majority. Not as a luxury - as a rule.

The Debt Trap No One Talks About

And while we’re rethinking work, let’s talk about graduates .

Every year, millions of students finish bachelor’s degrees - and now master’s degrees - with a mountain of debt and no job to show for it. Interest accumulates before they’ve even started. That’s not a meritocracy. That’s a debt trap.

In my country, education is subsidized all the way through university. You only pay for uniforms, books, etc. After graduation, you enter the workforce, train, and repay the government’s tuition over a few years - zero interest, no crushing weight before you’ve even begun.

Imagine that. A fresh graduate starting their life without a loan shark disguised as a student loan. They can take a lower-paying job that trains them. They can afford to think long-term. They can breathe.

Why isn’t that the norm everywhere?

So Where Do We Go From Here?

I don’t have all the answers. But here’s what I believe and think would help:

1. We don’t repeat the offshoring mistake with AI. If you replace people instead of empowering them, you’ll pay for it later- politically, socially and economically.

2. It should be Human and AI, not Human vs. AI. We would use AI to handle repetitive tasks, but keep judgment, empathy, and conscience in human hands.

3. To consider a human worker quota. Especially in critical services, public-facing roles and anything involving ethical decisions.

4. Fix the debt cycle. Subsidized or interest-free education isn’t charity - it’s an investment in a functional society.

My dad and I didn’t solve the world's problems that evening. But we started something - a conversation that should be happening at every dinner table, in every break room and in every boardroom.

And we agreed on one thing: we keep learning the same lesson the hard way. First with offshoring. Then with cutbacks and the gig economy. Now with AI.

Third time’s not a charm. It’s a choice. Let’s choose differently .

What’s your stance? Do you think a human worker quota is realistic? Or are we already past the point of no return? Drop a comment - I genuinely want to know.

Love Always,

Sarina xx