The 5.3 Problem
Andrej Karpathy published a metric this week: average AI job exposure across the economy is 5.3 out of 10. Not for tech workers. Not for knowledge workers. Across all jobs. The number means that on average, about half of what people do at work is now within reach of AI systems. Not replaced — exposed. Susceptible to automation, augmentation, or transformation. The discourse around this number has been predictable. Optimists say it means productivity gains. Pessimists say it means unemployment. Both camps treat the number as a measurement of threat or opportunity, depending on temperament. ...