Sam Altman Warned AI Could Lead to a ‘Jobs Apocalypse’ — Now He Says He Is ‘Delighted to Be Wrong’
The OpenAI chief expected AI to wipe out entry-level positions, but admits he underestimated the ‘human part’ of employment.
It took some autoreplies on Slack and email to convince Sam Altman that he was mistaken about the AI causing an entry-level jobs apocalypse.
The OpenAI CEO said Tuesday that AI has not wiped out white-collar jobs as fast as he once feared, according to Reuters. Speaking virtually at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference in Sydney, he said he had expected far more positions to vanish by now. “I’m delighted to be wrong about this,” he said.
What changed his mind was surprisingly personal. Altman had been using AI to answer his Slack and email messages, even setting it to reply on his behalf. The experiment backfired after he realized how much he valued genuine human interaction. That “human part” of work, he concluded, can’t easily be outsourced to machines. His new outlook arrives as OpenAI prepares to confidentially file for a U.S. IPO that could value the company at $1 trillion.
It took some autoreplies on Slack and email to convince Sam Altman that he was mistaken about the AI causing an entry-level jobs apocalypse.
The OpenAI CEO said Tuesday that AI has not wiped out white-collar jobs as fast as he once feared, according to Reuters. Speaking virtually at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference in Sydney, he said he had expected far more positions to vanish by now. “I’m delighted to be wrong about this,” he said.
What changed his mind was surprisingly personal. Altman had been using AI to answer his Slack and email messages, even setting it to reply on his behalf. The experiment backfired after he realized how much he valued genuine human interaction. That “human part” of work, he concluded, can’t easily be outsourced to machines. His new outlook arrives as OpenAI prepares to confidentially file for a U.S. IPO that could value the company at $1 trillion.
