Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs Reverse AI Job Warnings

Two leading AI executives have changed their predictions about automation's impact on workforce employment ahead of planned public listings.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, spent years warning that generative AI would eliminate white-collar jobs across multiple sectors. Both executives have now admitted their forecasts were incorrect.

The timing could be linked to impending initial public offerings for both companies in 2026. According to analysts, the change in messaging may reflect attempts to reassure institutional investors concerned about workforce disruption and the broader economic implications of widespread automation.

Threatening to displace workers does not align with the stable growth narrative that pension funds and asset managers typically require before committing capital to public listings. The shift in tone represents a significant departure from their previous public statements on AI's disruptive potential.

Initial predictions on job losses

Dario previously stated that AI could eliminate 50% of white-collar roles within the next decade. Sam issued similar warnings about entry-level positions facing serious risk from automation, particularly in administrative and analytical functions.

Speaking with Matt Comyn, CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sam conceded he was "pretty wrong" about the short-term economic disruption, noting that this has simply not materialised in the way many industry observers had anticipated.

He said: "I'm delighted to ⁠be wrong about this. I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than ​has actually happened."

Dario has reframed automation as a productivity multiplier rather than a job destroyer. He notes: "If you automate 90% of the job, then everyone does the 10% of the job. And the 10% kind of expands to be 100% of what people do and kind of 10-times their productivity."

This reframing suggests a fundamental shift in how AI companies are positioning their technology in corporate environments.

Valuation and regulatory pressures

OpenAI and Anthropic are targeting a US$1tn valuation in their respective IPOs this year. The shift away from doomsday scenarios could show an attempt to avoid regulatory scrutiny from competition authorities.

If regulators determine that these platforms will permanently displace half the workforce, antitrust measures could jeopardise the listings. By repositioning generative AI as a corporate efficiency tool, Sam and Dario appear to be adopting the language that financial markets prefer.

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, has consistently argued since late 2025 that the panic is overblown. He points to a century of economic disruption, drawing a parallel from the electrification of the 1900s to the digital revolution of the 1990s.

He says: "The United States has a long track record of creating new jobs in response to disruption … I don't see any reason to think this dynamic will stop now."

Labour market shows resilience

Tech sector layoffs passed 115,000 through May 2026. However, according to the Yale Budget Lab, there are no substantial changes in occupational unemployment rates across the broader economy.

Economists attribute this resilience to Jevons paradox. This 19th-century principle states that as a resource becomes more efficient and cheaper, demand for it increases, creating new opportunities rather than eliminating them entirely.

Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, notes that automating a task reduces its cost, which ultimately increases demand. He says: "If you looked at what work looked like a few decades ago and saw how much faster everything is or easier it is to produce today, even before AI, you'd certainly have been convinced there'd be no jobs left. Yet the opposite has happened. Why?"

According to Aaron, automation will not decrease demand for a certain role, but rather increase it, as automation will deliver "the same value proposition, but cheaper".

Hidden effects on workers

While Dario says automating 90% of a job allows the remaining 10% to expand and multiply worker productivity, to a worker this split could mean a psychological challenge. Routine tasks provide vital cognitive buffer time which is important to maintain sustained focus throughout the working day.

If automation removes these simple duties, an eight-hour day condenses into an unrelenting series of complex, taxing decisions. Automation tools usually do not give workers time back, but rather raise the baseline of expected production, notes David.

Research from organisational psychologists suggests that removing routine tasks can increase cognitive load, potentially leading to faster burnout rates among knowledge workers who face continuous high-stakes decision-making without adequate recovery periods.