David Carrero (Stackscale): “AI is a new industrial revolution, and like all previous ones, it won’t be easy for everyone, but we will adapt.”
Artificial intelligence is advancing steadily and beginning to reshape the global job market. Whereas the 19th century was characterized by steam engines and the 20th by industrial automation, the 21st century will see artificial intelligence at the forefront of a new revolution. This warning comes from influential voices like Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, who stated this week that half of office jobs in the United States will disappear due to AI.
His comments arrive just after Microsoft announced the layoff of 9,000 employees, particularly affecting administrative and technical roles in areas likely to be automated or absorbed by a new wave of productivity driven by algorithms.
This situation isn’t exclusive to the United States. In Spain, while the numbers don’t reach such impactful levels, experts agree that white-collar jobs (office, management, design, programming, accounting, or data analysis) will also undergo profound transformation.
A silent yet unstoppable revolution
David Carrero, co-founder of the Spanish cloud infrastructure company Stackscale (Grupo Aire), summarizes it clearly:
“We are experiencing a new industrial revolution. Artificial intelligence will transform not only business productivity but also the way we conceive knowledge work. As with all previous revolutions, it won’t be as beneficial as we wish for everyone, but we will adapt.”
Carrero emphasizes that Spanish companies need to prepare not only to adopt AI tools but also to completely reconfigure their processes:
“AI cannot just be seen as a substitute for tasks. We must rethink how we work. What we do today with spreadsheets, meetings, or emails will tomorrow become automated flows that learn from human behavior and act autonomously.”
Spain faces the challenge: more cloud, more AI, more training
Spain is in an intermediate position in this transformation. On one hand, many companies, especially SMEs, have yet to make a full leap into digitization. On the other, the country has a growing network of data centers, technical talent, and public policies aimed at digital transformation, such as the Digital Kit or the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.
For Carrero, this presents a great opportunity:
“AI requires robust infrastructure and well-organized data. Cloud will be an essential ally, and at Stackscale, we are seeing increasing demand for customized AI solutions, especially in private environments with solutions like PrivateGPT and Europeans seeking digital data sovereignty.”
However, the expert also warns of the risk of exclusion:
“Some jobs will disappear. But many new jobs that do not exist today will also emerge. The key will be continuous training and professional reskilling. We cannot afford to leave millions of people behind.”
Microsoft, Shopify, IBM… and the message in between
The case of Microsoft, which has just eliminated 4% of its global workforce, is just one example. IBM has already replaced hundreds of HR employees with automated systems. Shopify will only hire new profiles if their tasks cannot be taken over by AI. And JPMorgan anticipates a 10% reduction in its workforce in a few years due to the use of AI.
All these movements send a message: companies leading the digital transformation are already adapting their structures for an economy where algorithms will make many decisions on their own.
A different work future, but not necessarily worse
Despite alarmist forecasts, some tech leaders like Jensen Huang (NVIDIA) and Brad Lightcap (OpenAI) insist that there is still no evidence of a catastrophic short-term impact. Lightcap even labeled the assumptions of looming mass layoffs as “unfounded.”
David Carrero agrees that the process will be more gradual and manageable than some headlines suggest:
“AI will change everything, yes. But we have time to prepare. The difference between benefiting from this revolution or suffering from it will depend on our ability to adapt, train ourselves, and rethink how and why we work.”