Unexpected twist: why big tech CEOs no longer say AI will destroy millions of jobs

In recent weeks, the message began to change: references to a technology that enhances the productivitycrea new opportunities and keeps the personas at the center of the processes.

The discursive turn comes while many companies continue investing thousands of million dollars in artificial intelligence and, at the same time, carry out internal restructuring. It also coincides with greater experience in the implementation of these tools and with a growing public debate about their true impact on employment.

One of the most notable changes was Sam AltmanCEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The executive, who for years maintained that AI would produce profound changes in the labor market, acknowledged at the end of May that some of his projections did not come true.

“We have been quite correct in the technological predictions and quite wrong about the social and economic implications“he stated during a conference.

Shortly afterwards, in an interview with CNBCargued that the industry “underestimated how much we were going to be able to keep people at the center of everything.”

A similar evolution showed Dario Amodeide Anthropic (Claude). In May 2025 he had warned that artificial intelligence could eliminate half of the jobs initial level. A year later, however, he focused on the different ways in which companies can take advantage of technology.

As explained, companies can carry out the same tasks with fewer resources (which could lead to layoffs) or do more using the same number of personnel, an alternative that, he assured, requires creativity.

In an essay published in June, Amodei clarified that his warnings about job displacement were intended to give governments and companies time to prepare for possible changes, and stressed that he did not intend to become a “prophet of disaster”. In any case, he also noted that the possibility of permanent job losses remains.

The change in tone appears in a context in which several large technology companies continue to reduce staff while increasing spending on the development of artificial intelligence.

Mark ZuckerbergCEO of Meta, recently stated, during an interview with Complexthat if companies can increase people’s productivity faster than they automate tasks, “in theory there should be more jobs in the futureno less.”

In May, Meta began a layoff process which reached 8,000 employees as part of a reorganization to simplify the structure of its teams.

Also Andy JassyCEO of Amazon, partially modified his speech. In February he spoke about the potential of AI to generate new jobs, after announcing a year earlier that Amazon would reduce its workforce in the coming years due to the advancement of this technology.

The company later clarified that the layoffs of 16,000 workers were not linked to the adoption of artificial intelligencebut with a process aimed at reducing hierarchical levels and revitalizing its corporate culture.

The story of big technology companies went from scenarios focused on a sharp reduction in workers to another in which artificial intelligence appears mainly as a tool to increase productivity without necessarily replacing employees.

This change in position is also reflected outside the technology sector. A survey of EY-Parthenon showed that the percentage of CEOs who believe investments in AI will lead to significant workforce reductions fell from about 46% in January 2025 to 20% in May of this year.

To David Authoran MIT economist, there are different possible explanations for this change in perception. According to him, executives may have verified that the labor market “is not changing (or collapsing) as quickly as they expected“. He also considered that perhaps they understood that it was not good business to present their new product as a technology capable of destroying the economy.

A study prepared by the financial technology company Ramp along with Revelio Labs also found that the companies that made the largest investments in artificial intelligence They increased their employment by around 10% more than other similar companies that had not yet adopted these tools.

Altman supported this idea by stating that “The companies that adopted AI the most are also the ones that are hiring the most”. Furthermore, he stated that technology is already generating demand for certain job profiles and that, over time, occupations that do not yet exist today will appear.

Despite the change of speech, there is no consensus on what the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on employment will be. Top-level economists maintain divergent positions on the effect that technology will have in the coming years.

Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farleyhad stated that AI would replace “literally half of America’s white-collar workers”. However, Ford Motor Company recently added several hundred engineers and attributed that decision to concerns about the quality of automated work.

A spokesperson for the automaker said that “engineers with deep technical expertise, leveraging the power of AI, are a very powerful combination that is driving quality improvements.”

For professor and analyst Maurice Schweitzer, “the tone of the conversation changed”. As he explained, at first there was great expectation around artificial intelligence and now there is also a political component linked to the construction of data centers already possible regulation of technology.

At the same time, companies continue to learn how to effectively implement these tools. Many are still trying to determine how long it takes to incorporate them into their processes and to what extent they can solve tasks and workflows with good results.

A survey carried out by the consulting firm Emergn revealed that numerous companies have difficulties in measuring actual performance of their investments in artificial intelligence.

Nearly 20% of American executives surveyed said that internal reports on AI projects present a more optimistic picture than the results show, either because bad news is softened or because teams avoid communicating failures.

Even Jeff Bezos maintains a optimistic look about the future of employment. In June, he argued that artificial intelligence could even generate labor shortages. Consulted in May by CNBC Regarding the fear of many people of losing their jobs due to AI, he responded that this fear exists because “all these smart people keep saying it.” Fewer and fewer executives do it.