"Moving from efficiency to growth. If last year was the year of AI-driven efficiency and cost-cutting, this year will be the year of AI-driven growth, with CEOs seeking to derive value and profit from implementation versus just workforce reduction. The future of work is uncertain. On the topic of workforce reduction, opinions ranged from a total replacement of all jobs to job growth over the next decade."
"Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is not shy about saying AI will replace lots of jobs, noting that software engineers, for example, are 6-12 months from being obsolete. One unicorn AI startup CEO told me he thought AI would create more jobs than it would replace. He also felt that the number of billionaires will surge from AI; the way the internet made it easier for more entrepreneurs to become millionaires, AI will make it easier for more people to become billionaires."
"One Big Tech executive was adamant that while AI will start out assisting workers, make no mistake: AI is a human "substitute." They felt that pretty much every job could be ticked off one by one as AI improves, noting, like Amodei, that many engineers have already stopped writing code and that call center employees and customer support roles are already well on their way to irrelevance."
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, global leaders emphasized two central themes: shifting from AI-driven efficiency to AI-driven growth, and deep uncertainty about the future of work. CEOs are focusing on extracting value and profit from AI implementations rather than solely pursuing workforce reductions. Views on employment diverge: some predict rapid displacement, citing software engineers becoming obsolete within months, while others anticipate net job creation and concentrated wealth gains. Executives described AI as both an assistant and a human substitute, foreshadowing the obsolescence of roles like customer support even as some expect eventual job growth and workforce repurposing.
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