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Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Here's what the biggest names in tech and business think AI means for white-collar jobs
Dario Amodei Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei kicked off the conversation by warning about how quickly large language models are advancing. "We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming," Amodei told Axios. "I don't think this is on people's radar." Amodei said it can seem weird that the AI companies would warn about their own technology. Sam Altman OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said some jobs will go away, but society will adapt. "And the hard part about this is, I think it will happen faster than previous technological changes. But I think the new jobs will be better, and people will have better stuff," Altman said during a live episode of The New York Times' "Hard Fork" podcast in June. Altman said that even if it were true that such a large number of jobs were about to be wiped out, "the inertia of society" wouldn't allow for it. "And the take that half the jobs are going to be gone in a year or two years or five years or whatever — I think that's just — I think that's not how society really works," he said. "Even if the technology weren't ready for that, the inertia of society, which will be helpful in this case, is like — there's a lot of mass there." Jensen Huang Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang didn't mince words. "I pretty much disagree with almost everything he says," Huang told reporters of Amoedi's views at VivaTech 2025 in Paris. "He thinks AI is so scary, but only they should do it." Huang said that he's much more optimistic. "If you want things to be done safely and responsibly, you should do it in the open," Huang said, likening AI development to medical research, where transparency and peer review are essential. "I believe AI is not that expensive. Do I think AI will change jobs? It will change everyone's — it's changed mine." Marc Benioff Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said he's seeing no evidence of such a near-immediate upheaval. "That isn't how I see AI," Benioff said during a recent onstage interview at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit. "Maybe they have AI, I don't have. But in the AI I have, it's not going to be some huge mass layoff of white-collar workers, it is a radical augmentation of the workforce." Benioff encouraged people to "shed their fear" about AI. "When I'm talking to our customers, I'm not hearing them say, "Oh, now I'm laying off these people because this A,B,C technology increase because of AI.' So, I think we need to somehow shed the fear of what that all means." Jim Farley Ford CEO Jim Farley said he sees problems ahead. "Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the US," Farley said during an appearance at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Farley said he's concerned that too much of the American education system is focused on four-year degrees instead of trades. Mark Cuban Mark Cuban said the situation will be the opposite of Amodei's warning. "Someone needs to remind the CEO that at one point there were more than 2m secretaries. There were also separate employees to do in office dictation. They were the original white collar displacements," Cuban wrote on in a post on Bluesky. "New companies with new jobs will come from AI and increase TOTAL employment," he continued. Brad Lightcap Like Altman, OpenAI's COO Brad Lightcap doesn't see the sky falling. "We have no evidence of this," Lightcap said during the "Hard Fork" podcast taping. "And Dario is a scientist. And I would hope he takes an evidence-based approach to these types of things." Lightcap said that every technology changes the job market. "I think every time you get a platform shift, you get a change in the job market," he said." I mean, in 1900, 40 percent of people worked in agriculture. It's 2 percent today. Microsoft Excel has probably been the greatest job displacer of the 20th century." Andy Jassy Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that AI is already changing workflows. He said it will soon lead to a reduction in some jobs. "As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done," Jassy said in a memo posted to the Amazon website. "We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs." Sebastian Siemiatkowski Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said AI may cause a recession due to the sheer number of job cuts. "I don't want to be one of them," Siemiatkowski said of CEOs who downplay the changes AI will bring. "I want to be honest, I want to be fair, and I want to tell what I see so that society can start taking preparations."
India Today
5 days ago
- Business
- India Today
AI does 50 per cent of the work at Salesforce but don't fear mass layoffs yet, CEO Mark Benioff says
Whether AI will take over white-collar jobs or not remains a heated debate. While many industry experts believe that AI will eventually become as intelligent as humans and take over most jobs involving mental or administrative work, others argue that AI will work in cooperation with humans, and that it is humans who will always keep the upper hand. A similar view is held by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who believes that artificial intelligence will not lead to widespread job losses but rather improve at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, Benioff said that AI is already doing 50 per cent of the work at Salesforce. However, it is not replacing human employees. Instead, it is acting as a productivity tool that is transforming how teams operate without displacing them. 'In the AI (vision) I have, it's not going to be some huge mass layoff of white-collar workers,' Benioff said. 'It is a radical augmentation of the workforce.'Benioff's comments come at a time when companies are actively incorporating AI tools into their operations. This shift is also prompting concern that automation could render a significant portion of human roles getting replaced. However, Benioff believes that, in the AI transformation, people and machines will collaborate rather than compete. 'Maybe they have AI I don't have,' he quipped. 'When I speak with our customers, they're not saying, 'I'm laying off employees because of AI advancements in A, B, or C technologies.' That fear, we need to let it go.' The Salesforce chief is clear and firm in his belief that AI should be seen as a means of increasing output rather than reducing headcount. Notably, Salesforce has already fine-tuned its operations with AI capabilities. In a recent Financial Times op-ed, Benioff revealed that 25 per cent of Salesforce's new code in the first quarter of 2025 was AI-generated. He also noted that customer service agents using the company's AI platform, Agentforce, resolved 85 per cent of incoming queries. According to Benioff, these improvements have enabled teams to work more efficiently and build stronger relationships with this broad adoption of AI tools, Benioff is clear that AI is reshaping Salesforce from within. He emphasises that, rather than cutting jobs, the company is rethinking how work is organised — breaking roles into distinct skills and helping employees transition into new, AI-augmented Benioff does not dismiss the potential disruptions AI may bring, he suggests that job roles will continue to evolve as AI capabilities grow, and that fears of large-scale job displacement are overstated. Rather than eliminating jobs, he argues, AI is prompting a rework around what humans need to do, with the need for many roles to be restructured around new skill sets.- Ends
Business Insider
13-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Marc Benioff says the narrative that AI will end white-collar jobs is wrong
Marc Benioff said that while artificial intelligence is drastically reshaping Salesforce, it doesn't mean that it will wipe out white-collar workers. "That isn't how I see AI," Benioff, Salesforce's CEO, told Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson during a recent onstage interview at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit. "Maybe they have AI, I don't have. But in the AI I have, it's not going to be some huge mass layoff of white-collar workers, it is a radical augmentation of the workforce." Benioff's broader view of AI contrasts with how other in tech view the next decade. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who was not mentioned directly during Benioff's appearance, has said AI may eliminate half of entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next five years. People need to get past this type of general "fear," Benioff said. "When I'm talking to our customers, I'm not hearing them say, "Oh, now I'm laying off these people because this A,B,C technology increase because of AI.' So, I think we need to somehow shed the fear of what that all means." For his own company, Benioff says he's paused Salesforce's hiring of engineers, lawyers, and customer service agents for the year so the company can "let AI productivity really take hold." "Right now, for engineering organization, because of the incredible productivity opportunity, for AI in engineering this year, let's take some time to actually incorporate that in so we're not focused on hiring another thousand, 2,000, 3,000 engineers," he said. At the same time, Benioff said Salesforce is ramping up sales-related hires due to customer demand to deploy AI. That's likely because, in his view, we're on the edge of "a radical explosion in small and medium businesses." "You're just going to see a lot more SMBs and a lot more general business and mid-market business, because their capabilities are radically amplified by the AI," he said.
