“AI’s most powerful CEOs are splitting into warring camps over whether their own technology will gut white-collar work or supercharge it — but the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.”
“Why it matters: The two leading AI labs are trading in hype and doom, making it nearly impossible for companies, policymakers and the public to know what’s coming.”
You don’t say.
And both are going out of their way to stir the pot in opposite directions. Starting with Dario Amodei’s Anthropic.
“The big picture: A pair of public appearances this week highlighted how far apart Anthropic and OpenAI are.”
“Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, speaking at the Vatican’s AI ethics conference, doubled down on rhetoric CEO Dario Amodei has used about the dangers of AI. “There is a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at very large scale,” Olah said.”
At the Vatican no less. Asking the Pope for help in these secular, technical matters. The actual Anthropic post is worth reading in its extraordinary leaps for assistance from the religious realms to the prosaic worlds of technology. It even starts off with “Holy Father”.
Then OpenAI kicks it off from the other corner, filled with AI optimism.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is sounding rosier about the tech. He said it’s unlikely to cause a jobs apocalypse and that he was “wrong” about earlier projections that it would wipe out entire categories of jobs.
“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,” Altman told Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn.”
Axios goes on to provide the jobs context, replete with examples of recent corporate ‘AI Washing’ in my view. Tech companies taking advantage of AI Jobs fear to take past hiring indulgences off the books, and be rewarded with higher stock prices. And throwing in a dollop of the broader AI existential fears.
“Zoom in: A spate of tech company layoffs in recent weeks has given fresh fodder to the “doomer” camp.”
“Meta let go of nearly 8,000 employees, after projecting at least $125 billion in AI capital expenditures this year.”
“That came after Coinbase, Block, Pinterest, Shopify and others tied workforce restructurings to AI capabilities.”
“AI costs a lot of money” and layoffs can offset those costs, Sophia Velastegui, Microsoft’s former chief AI officer and now CEO at Velastegui Ventures, told Axios.”
“Yes, but: There’s also recent evidence pointing in the other direction. While unemployment has ticked up since 2023,it has predominantly been in sectors with the least exposure to AI, according to Stanford researchers.”
“Software engineering job openings on Indeed are up over 18% year over year, while all openings are down 4.3% over the same period.”
“LinkedIn’s chief economist recently said AI has led to around 1.3 million new job postings.”
The media of course will cite short term blips on AI usage and applications as companies tinker with figuring out their AI deployments. Both examples below have broader context that offset the concerns cited.
“Reality check: Some technology giants are scaling back their AI usage after finding that the promise of huge productivity gains hasn’t materialized.”
“Uber’s COO said AI costs are getting “harder to justify” weeks after his chief technology officer blew through his 2026 IT budget on AI usage.”
“Microsoft is winding down some of its Claude Code licenses, according to The Verge, a move Fortune tied to their enormous costs.”
The bottom line: No one really knows how the AI jobs story will play out. The most likely scenario: widespread displacement in some sectors, job growth in others, and an uneven transition that defies a clean narrative for either side.”
I point all this out to underline the confusing stew of noise and signal in the AI pot. Complete with its debated impact on jobs.
And indeed our existence as humans in this realm vs machines. And the vigorous stirring of the pot by the same folks creating and funding the core of this AI Tech Wave in the first place.
Can’t wait for the history books and movies around this extraordinary period we’re all making our way through together. Stay tuned.
(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)
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