Like horses laid off by the car: BT tech chief's AI job losses analogy draws anger

BT's technology chief, Harmeen Mehta, has suggested workers whose jobs are threatened by AI accept their fate as "evolution", comparing them to horses replaced by the car. In an interview with the business website Raconteur, Mehta said: "I don't know how horses felt when the car was invented, but they didn't complain that they were put out of a job; they didn't go on strike. Some jobs will change, some new ones will be created and some will no longer be needed." She argued that "society changes and jobs morph", and suggested the tone of reporting on AI was holding back its rollout in the UK. "The media here is creating a level of paranoia that's going to paralyse this country," she said.