Just one year ago, numerous business leaders believed artificial intelligence would decimate employment. However, over the past month, the stance of technology company chief executives has become notably more positive.
In late May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has long forecast significant upheaval in the labor market from AI, stated at a conference: "We were roughly right on the technology predictions, and we were very wrong on the social and economic impact."
Shortly after, in an interview, he remarked: "Our industry underestimated the degree to which we can keep the human at the center of all jobs."
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned in May 2025 that AI could displace half of entry-level jobs. A year later, he highlighted a potentially more favorable outlook for businesses adopting the technology: "They can do the same with less, which could lead to layoffs; or they can do more with the same. But that requires creativity."
In a June article, the executive wrote that his earlier warnings about job losses were intended to give policymakers and the private sector the maximum opportunity to adapt—he did not aim to be a "doomsayer." He also noted that the possibility of "long-term unemployment" remains.
Is this more optimistic outlook a bid to win back clients and a public growing disillusioned with promises of AI disrupting the world? Or is it simply a result of a deeper understanding of AI's role in the workplace?
Comments on AI's job-creation potential come as companies are cutting staff to funnel more resources into AI. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said in an interview that if businesses focus on boosting worker productivity faster than automation, "in theory, there should be more jobs in the future, not fewer." The company began cutting 8,000 jobs in May to streamline teams.
In February, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy discussed AI's potential to create jobs in an interview. A year prior, he announced the company would cut roles over several years due to AI. Amazon stated that subsequent layoffs of 16,000 people were unrelated to AI adoption but were part of ongoing efforts to streamline the organization and reshape its culture.
Overall, the narrative has shifted from a doomsday scenario of AI-induced labor shortages to a future where workers retain their jobs and enhance their productivity.
This change in sentiment extends beyond tech leaders: an EY-Parthenon survey found the proportion of CEOs who believed AI investment would lead to a significant reduction in headcount fell from about 46% in January 2025 to 20% in May of this year.
MIT economics professor David Autor noted: "They may have noticed that the labor market isn't changing—that is, collapsing—as fast as they expected. They may have realized that claiming your new product will destroy the economy is a terrible business strategy."
A recent study by fintech firm Ramp and workforce intelligence company Revelio Labs found that companies making the largest investments in AI are hiring about 10% faster than similar firms yet to adopt the technology.
"The companies that are most aggressive in adopting AI, to my knowledge, are also hiring the most," Altman said in an interview. Some tech leaders believe AI is even creating demand for certain new roles, with more jobs that don't exist today likely to emerge.
Many of the world's most prominent economists are divided on AI's long-term impact on employment.
Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley stated last year that AI would replace "half of America's white-collar workers." The company recently hired hundreds of engineers, attributing the move to concerns about the quality of automated work.
A Ford spokesperson said: "Engineers with deep technical expertise combined with the power of AI—that powerful combination is driving quality improvements at Ford."
Meanwhile, public sentiment toward AI is growing more negative. A recent poll by researchers from Stanford University and UC Berkeley showed about 30% of Democrats believe the U.S. should accelerate AI innovation as fast as possible, compared to roughly half of Republicans and 77% of tech company founders.
"The tone of the conversation has shifted," said Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School who studies leadership and decision-making. "There was a lot of hype early on."
He noted that between the effort to build data centers and potential government regulation of AI, "there is a political element to what they are doing."
Furthermore, AI's actual performance in the business world warrants attention. Companies in tech and other sectors are learning how to deploy new AI tools effectively and striving to better understand their capabilities for handling tasks and workflows.
According to a survey of corporate executives by technology and management consultancy Emergn, businesses struggle to determine which AI investments are truly paying off. About 20% of U.S. business leaders said reports they receive on AI deployments paint a much rosier picture than reality, with some reports even "downplaying" bad news, and employees staying silent about failures.
Stephen Henriquez, a senior fellow at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, observed that on earnings calls, CEOs can sound impressive discussing AI capabilities and expected returns. "But how it actually diffuses through the economy is a whole other story."
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has long predicted AI will create new jobs. In June, he even suggested AI could lead to labor shortages. In May, when asked about fears that AI would take jobs, he said people are afraid because "all these smart people are saying it."
Fewer people are saying it now.
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