Debate ‘Is AI creating or stealing more jobs’

Even though some jobs disappear, new jobs will appear thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). That is a common comment from experts and business leaders about the impact of this technology.

However, there are different forecasts about which trend is more evident at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (Switzerland) last week, gathering 60 heads of state and 830 CEOs and chairmen of corporate boards of directors.

Pioneers and beneficiaries of AI’s multitrillion-dollar expansion wave express optimism. “Chip tycoon” Jensen Huang said this technology will bring higher wages and more jobs for plumbers, electricians and steel workers.

“The energy, chip manufacturing and infrastructure industries are creating jobs,” Nvidia CEO declared at WEF. “Jobs, jobs, jobs,” Huang emphasized.

Rob Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of asset management group BlackRock, said it raised nearly 700 billion USD from customers last year. They see AI as a tool to expand business, not cut staff. “We’re very focused on keeping our headcount flat while continuing to grow,” he said.

Some business leaders praise the productivity that AI brings. Cathinka Wahlstrom, BNY Commercial Director, revealed that this technology helps shorten the research time to onboard a new customer from two days to 10 minutes.

At Cisco, projects that were once considered too tedious and time-consuming – which could take up to 19 years of work for a worker – are now completed in just a few weeks, according to President Jeetu Patel. “We’ve really rethought the way we write programming,” he said,

IBM commercial director Rob Thomas assesses that AI has reached the stage where it can return on investment. “Now you can really start automating tasks and business processes,” he said.

But skepticism about AI still smolders. Christy Hoffman, general secretary of the 20 million-member UNI Global Union, says AI is being sold as a productivity tool. “That often means doing more with less labor,” she said.

Source of Reuters said Amazon is planning a new round of layoffs next week, within its goal of cutting a total of 30,000 office jobs. Two other CEOs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that AI will be used by companies as an excuse for layoffs.

Previously, the forecast of human resources platform Indeed said that recruitment growth in 2026 in the US would be very low, with economic instability and the development of AI being the two leading causes. At an event for CEOs held by the Yale School of Management in Manhattan last month, 66% of leaders surveyed said they planned to lay off workers, or maintain the same size, by 2026.

At the global level, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, General Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that 40% of global jobs will be affected by AI in the next few years, meaning they will be transformed or eliminated. In developed economies, this figure is 60%. The IMF itself is not out of the trend, with the number of the organization’s translators reduced from 200 to 50 people.

Not just individual workers, Matthew Prince, CEO of cybersecurity company Cloudflare, warned that AI could become so dominant that it could “wipe out” small businesses. WEF’s “Global Risks Report 2026” released this month ranked “Adverse Impact of AI” fifth among the 10 long-term global risks in the next 10 years.

Experts also point out that some applications “do more harm than good”, such as chatbots that can push users into mental disorders. Regulators in the US are increasing scrutiny of AI companies for the potential negative impacts of chatbots.

On January 23, after a wave of harsh criticism about chatbots’ “flirting” behavior with minors, Meta Platforms announced that it would temporarily suspend teenagers’ access to AI characters across all of its applications.

The true effectiveness of AI has not yet convinced the majority. PwC said only 1 in 8 CEOs recently surveyed by the consulting firm believe AI is helping reduce costs and bring in revenue. The question of which business model can offset the huge costs of investing in AI remains open. In recent years, some businesses have complained about the ineffectiveness of AI pilot projects, inspired by the ChatGPT craze of 2022.

Microsoft co-founder, billionaire Bill Gates said that the world needs to “be ready for the opportunities and disruptions that AI brings”. On the positive side, he thinks the economy will be more productive.

Proposing the idea of ​​supporting workers, he said that AI-related activities should be taxed, and called on politicians to become more familiar with this technology. “There are definitely problems, but they can be solved,” he said.