‘The jobs picture is likely to be very different than we thought’: Sam Altman pours cold water on AI 'jobs apocalypse' claims – but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some workforce disruption

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed claims that rapid AI advances could lead to a “jobs apocalypse”, admitting that many roles will still require a human touch.

During a virtual keynote session at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) conference, Altman noted that a widespread upheaval in “white collar” work hasn’t quite materialized.

"I don't think we're going to have the kind ​of jobs apocalypse that some of the companies in our space advocate or talk about,” Altman said, per reports from Reuters.

“The jobs picture is likely to be very different than we thought.”

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Altman’s comments come in sharp contrast to claims made by leading counterparts in the AI industry. Last year, for example, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei suggested that nearly half of white collar roles could be lost to AI in the coming years.

The Anthropic chief executive told Axios that big tech providers were “sugar coating” the potential impact of the technology on the workforce and called for an upfront conversation on the matter.

“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” he said. “I don’t think this is on people’s radar.”

While Altman suggested concerns over the impact of AI on white collar work have been overblown, there has been significant disruption. In recent months, a host of organizations globally have cited AI advances as a key factor behind mass layoffs.

In May, Cloudflare specifically highlighted agentic AI as a motivation behind headcount reductions, while Coinbase and Freshworks confirmed plans to reduce headcount due to AI.

Altman has previously hit out at companies laying off staff for AI, suggesting these cuts are a convenient excuse to mask more traditional factors, such as poor financial performance.

Altman “thought there would have been more impact”

Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, Altman claims the company has been “roughly right” on how the technology will impact global workforces, but admitted thus far they’ve been “pretty wrong” in terms of the social impact of AI.

"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 commented.

A key factor here, he suggested, is that a significant number of roles across an array of professions and industries still require a human touch – and it’s something that can’t be replaced by AI.

Organizations in some industries have learned this the hard way in recent years, particularly with regard to customer service and support. Roles in this domain were among the first on the chopping block due to AI-related advances, for example.

Research from Gartner in June last year, however, noted that half of companies expected to “significantly reduce” plans to replace customer service workers with AI by 2027.

Notably, the consultancy found that human workers still remain essential in this domain, and complaints from customers forced to interact with automated services and chatbots have been rising.

Pointing to his own experiences on this front, the OpenAI chief said he had used AI to send automated email responses or Slack messages, but often ended up doing this manually.

"I had it reply to messages, saying 'this ​is Sam's AI' and it was an amazing example to me of we really do care ​about people," he ⁠said.

"We really do care about our interactions with people and this thing, which is a huge amount of my time, is not something that I can imagine myself outsourcing to an AI anytime soon."

Workforce chaos still on the horizon

Altman isn’t alone in dismissing the prospect of a jobs apocalypse. As ITPro reported last year, research from Gartner painted a more positive picture on this front, but warned that there could still be disruption.

The consultancy projects that more jobs will be gained through AI than lost, but this is dependent on whether workers can adapt to changing expectations and role requirements.

Speaking to ITPro at the time, Helen Poitevin, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, said a period of upheaval is expected amidst a mass reskilling and upskilling drive by both individual workers and companies.

All told, Gartner projects that around 150,000 people will need to be upskilled as a result of AI every day as roles are redesigned around the technology.

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