--- title: "AI Now Causing CEOs to Resign in Fear" description: "A growing number of corporate executives are now using AI as a convenient excuse to retire from their posts." date: "2026-03-29" modified: "2026-03-29" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-ceos-resign" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" --- # AI Now Causing CEOs to Resign in Fear ![A close-up of a person with their face covered by both hands, showing a distressed or contemplative expression. The image is stylized with an orange overlay on the person and a light blue background featuring a white grid pattern. The person is wearing a suit jacket.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* Many executives lately have been using AI as a [convenient excuse]() to lay off staff as the [economy crumbles](). Paradoxically, a growing number of CEOs are also turning the tech on themselves — using AI as an excuse to get out while the gettin's good. New [reporting by *CNBC*]() detailed the retirement of CEOs James Quincey and Doug McMillon of Coca-Cola and Walmart, respectively. In interview**s** with the outlet, both multi-millionaires cited AI as a reason for resigning their posts, arguing that they're not the right people to manage the coming AI revolution. Quincey, for example, told *CNBC* his resignation was fueled by "waves of organizational momentum." The British-born executive first joined Coke in 1996, working his way up to chief executive in 2017. Quincey oversaw [plenty of layoffs]() and [strange market shifts]() in his day — but the AI wave, he insists, is a different beast altogether. "My job is also to think who's the best team to put on the field to get the next wave done. And I concluded that, actually, it was time to put someone else on the field for the next wave of growth," he said. "In a pre-AI, a pre-gen-AI mode, we made a lot of progress. But now there's a huge new shift coming along." (Something that went unmentioned: Coke's foray into AI-generated commercials under Quincey's watch — an uncanny spectacle that [earned a good deal of mockery and disgust](), but very little praise.) McMillon, meanwhile, had sat as CEO of Walmart since 2014. He stepped down, he insists, to pass the baton to somebody "faster." "With what's happening with AI, I could start this next big set of transformations with AI, but I couldn't finish," the former chief executive told *CNBC*. A year ago, he said, he started thinking hard about how "AI shopping" might upend the retail industry. " I started thinking about everything that needs to happen over the next few years, and it really caused me to think that now was the right time \[to retire\]," McMillon said. How this narrative holds up remains to be seen. In the immediate future, Walmart faces the [dual challenge]() of trade tariffs and inflation, while Coke's [revenue growth]() has disappointed investors of late. With golden parachutes at the ready and AI-driven growth nonexistent, the tech could very well be playing cover to conveniently-timed exits. Other CEOs, like the 62-year-old Adobe executive Shantanu Narayen, have been [pushed out of the plane]() by investors who expected better performance in the age of AI. Whether curmudgeonly CEOs or broader economic turmoil are to blame for each company's respective woes is up for debate, in other words. Either way, the old guard clearly isn't waiting around to find out. **More on AI:** *[Venture Capitalist Warns That It’s All About to Come Crashing Down]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()