Big Tech Creating Panic To Sell AI: Here's The Truth About 'Jobpocalypse'

Will

artificial intelligence take over human jobs? This is the question that often comes to our minds when we discuss AI tools and their adoption by companies. It creates both fear and excitement in the tech world. While people across the world strongly believe and are facing job loss due to AI, the co-founder of Coursera and former head of Baidu, Andrew Ng, opposes the thought. Rejecting the idea, he took to X on Tuesday and said, “There will be no AI jobpocalypse.”

Why Ng Thinks AI Will Not Take Jobs

Ng highlights that software engineering is currently one of the prominent sectors which is most affected by AI tools and coding assistants. However, despite the increased use of AI agents, companies are constantly hiring software engineers at a strong pace. As per him, this reflects how AI is not replacing workers. Rather, it is bringing new work avenues and increased productivity. Despite the major developments in the AI sector, he notes that the unemployment rate in the US is at 4.3 per cent, which he pointed out is healthy. According to the Coursera CEO, AI is the new technological revolution that has changed industries, and it will create more jobs than it is going to take.

Why The Job Loss Fear Keeps Growing

Ng believes that there are a couple of groups that may benefit from spreading the narrative about AI replacing humans totally. He claimed some frontier companies have an incentive to make AI look extremely powerful because it increases excitement around their technology and business models. He explained that AI firms are charging much higher prices for their products now if businesses trust that the tools can replace expensive employees and can boost their productivity. Similarly, he noted that some organisations could also use AI as a convenient explanation for layoffs, even when other factors are involved. Ng agreed that AI is making work stressful because employees now need to adapt and upgrade. However, he asserts that AI will create a future where there will be a large number of new opportunities; he calls it ‘jobapalooza’. “This is a good time to encourage more people to become proficient in AI,” he added.

Global Job Loss Fears

The concerns about AI job loss are increasing day by day globally. Increasing investment in AI tools, several big techs have reduced thousands of roles over the past two years as a part of restructuring and AI-focused spending. In India as well, several big enterprises like Tata Consultancy and other organisations have shifted their focus towards AI-led operations, which raises concerns among entry-level jobs and support staff. Time will tell whether AI continues to take jobs or creates a greater number of opportunities.