By Aditi Bharade Anish Acharya, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, dismissed concerns about an AI 'permanent underclass,' describing the idea as a 'funny dark fantasy.' In an episode of Lenny's Podcast, he explained that AI is less centralized than previous tech booms, with opportunities widely distributed across multiple companies.
Acharya highlighted that coding agents, once seen as a 'winner-takes-all' market, now include successful tools like Claude Code, Codex, Lovable, Replit, and Wabi. He also noted that job markets outside tech, such as radiology, remain stable, reducing evidence of a permanent underclass.
Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Acharya worked in leadership roles at Credit Karma and Google. His comments align with other tech experts, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who called the 'permanent underclass' idea 'so dumb.'
Despite this optimism, San Francisco residents are experiencing rising housing costs due to AI workers relocating to the city, exacerbating its already tight housing market.
Aditi Bharade, a reporter at Business Insider’s Singapore bureau, covers AI’s impact on work and careers. She previously worked at The Straits Times and studied communications and business at Nanyang Technological University.
Source: Business Insider
