Ray Dalio Issues Stark Warning: AI and Robotics Set to Explode Wealth Inequality

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio sounds the alarm on technology's disruptive impact—and it's not pretty for the average worker.

The Great Divergence Accelerates

Artificial intelligence and automation aren't just changing industries—they're rewriting the rules of wealth distribution. Dalio predicts these technologies will concentrate power and capital in fewer hands, leaving traditional labor markets scrambling.

Tech Titans Win, Workers Lose

While Silicon Valley celebrates efficiency gains, Main Street faces an existential threat. Robotics don't demand raises or healthcare—they just outperform human labor at every turn. The productivity paradox strikes again: corporate profits soar while wages stagnate.

The New Gilded Age

We're not just talking marginal changes. Dalio warns of exponential divergence—where asset owners capture virtually all new value creation while everyone else fights for scraps. It's the ultimate 'rich get richer' scenario, turbocharged by algorithms.

Of course, the hedge fund elite will be just fine—their automated trading systems will probably profit from the very inequality they're warning about.

Ray Dalio says that AI  could render many current professions obsolete 

Dalio also brought up the scariest conversation about AI taking up jobs. He described a future where humanoid robots, smarter than humans, and advanced AI systems, powered by trillions of dollars in investment, could RENDER many current professions obsolete. 

He questioned the need for lawyers, accountants, and medical professionals if highly intelligent robots with PhD-level knowledge become commonplace. He noted, “We will not need a lot of those jobs […] why WOULD you need even a highly skilled professional if there’s a “humanoid robot that is smarter than all of us and has a PhD and everything.” 

According to him, the bad outweighs the good. While promising great advances, the technological leap also carries the potential for great conflicts.

Ray Dalio told Steve Bartlett that the shift will have to be more than just a redistribution of money policy because underutilization and money may not be a great combination. According to him, if one redistributes money but doesn’t think about how to put people to work, it could have negative effects in a world of autonomous agents. 

Roman Yampolskiy, a professor of computer science, agrees with Ray Dalio that AI will give most people up to 80 hours of free time a week. But it’s also clear that AI is making it harder for recent college graduates to find work. 

One study found that jobs that involve AI have dropped by 13% since 2022. Many changes made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that AI has started taking away tech jobs.

From the job report seen by Cryptopolitan this week, data from recent months have also shown that the job market is weak. In June, July, and August, the average monthly payroll growth was only 29,000, which is well below the level needed to keep the unemployment rate stable. 

The biggest drops were in leisure and hospitality (-176,000), professional and business services (-158,000), and retail trade (-126,200). Most sectors saw decreases, but transportation, warehousing, and utilities saw small gains. Most of the changes were in the private sector; government jobs were cut by 31,000. 

AI stocks are up, but Goldman Sachs expects a bear market soon

Investors who have put all their funds in AI investments would not like Ray Dalio’s pessimistic outlook. For instance, C3.ai introduced its next generation of robotic process automation on Tuesday, powered by the C3 Agentic AI Platform.

This has resulted in a bull rally where its shares ROSE 6% over the week. Also, the Nebius-Microsoft deal sparked a rally in AI-focused mining stocks on Tuesday, adding to momentum from the broader AI movement.

However, Goldman Sachs US equity strategist Ryan Hammond warned that AI investment as a percentage of capital expenditures could be nearing a climax. In turn, that sets the stage for overly upbeat AI investors to be let down if earnings don’t come in strongly in future quarters.

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