Maybe AI isn’t coming for your job, after all.
Sam Altman, CEO of the tech giant OpenAI, now says the rapid rise of artificial intelligence probably won’t set off the global “jobs apocalypse” that many observers – including Altman – have predicted.
Altman is one of the world’s leading authorities on AI, and he has been one of the loudest voices warning the technology could wipe out jobs across the white-collar workforce.
In one 2025 interview, Altman predicted AI would likely replace “30 to 40%” of all work tasks “in the not very distant future.”
But in a May 26 virtual interview at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference in Sydney, Altman said his AI fears were overblown.
“I’m delighted to be wrong about this,” Altman said, in remarks reported by Reuters and conference hosts. “I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level, white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than has actually happened.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that AI could wipe out white-collar jobs. But he’s changing his mind.
Is AI a white-collar job killer?
Other tech leaders have voiced fears that the viral spread of AI would detonate jobs across the ranks of professional, managerial and administrative professions by automating human tasks.
A year ago, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, told Axios AI could eliminate half of all entry-level positions and seed double-digit employment in the next few years.
Some companies have openly replaced workers with AI, and others have announced human layoffs while ramping up AI.
“You see a significant number of companies either announcing that they are not going to be doing much hiring, or actually doing layoffs, and much of the time, they’re talking about AI,” said Jerome Powell, the now-former chair of the Federal Reserve, speaking in October.
But Altman now believes many jobs ultimately require a human component that cannot be replaced. As an example, Altman said he had gone back to writing emails himself rather than outsourcing them to AI.
“We really do care about our interactions with people,” he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will AI eat your job? OpenAI’s Sam Altman has a new prediction.
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