--- title: "CEOs Say AI Is Poised to Wipe Out an Astonishing Number of Jobs" description: "CEOs are increasingly declaring human workers will soon go extinct, but recent jobs data suggests a different story." date: "2025-07-05" modified: "2025-07-05" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/ceos-ai-job-market" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "automation" - "ceos" - "labor" --- # CEOs Say AI Is Poised to Wipe Out an Astonishing Number of Jobs ![CEOs are increasingly declaring human workers will soon go extinct, but recent jobs data suggests a different story.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Billionaire tech moguls aren't the only ones doomsaying about artificial intelligence layoffs. CEOs across a range of industries are now jumping on the bandwagon, saying it's no longer a matter of "if," but "how many" jobs AI will take. A recent [survey by the ]()*[Wall Street Journal]()* explored just how pervasive the automation idea is throughout a number of industries, and execs aren't pulling any punches. For example, CEO of Ford Motor Company Jim Farley recently predicted that AI "is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the US." He added that "AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind." In June, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy spooked his employees with a memo saying to [expect layoffs]() in the next few years because of the "once-in-a-lifetime" revolution of AI. And at JPMorgan Chase, CEO Marianne Lake recently told investors to expect the company's overall head count — and therefore its payroll expenses — to fall by as much as 10 percent over the next few years, thanks to the magic of AI. If the AI automation dystopia really is upon us, it evidently slipped under the radar of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which recently released its [latest jobs report](). Among other things, it found that the US added 147,000 jobs in June, slightly dropping the unemployment rate from 4.2 percent to 4.1 — and seemingly refuting the claim of an impending AI takeover, at least for now. Over half of these jobs, [*NBC* notes](), were in state and local government roles, while healthcare, social, service, and construction work made up the bulk of other gains. Still, there are some major issues buried in the data, like the fact that [long-term unemployment]() — people unemployed for six months or more — has skyrocketed from 190,000 to a whopping 1.6 million. Meanwhile, the number of people unemployed at the median length of unemployment, 15 weeks or more, jumped from 34.9 percent to 38.3 percent. That level hasn't been seen since the throes of the pandemic, *NBC* notes. While those numbers are bad news — like, [really bad]() — the crisis they point to is a little more complicated than an AI-powered dystopia. At their core, these numbers are arguably the result of our economy's [dependence on unemployment]() laundered through AI hype. As economic researchers Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith observed in a [recent column](), revenue from large language model (LLM) adoption is falling [far short]() of the tech industry's promises. What gets presented as proof of AI's automation potential is instead a mash of [penny-pinching layoffs](), [outsourcing](), [labor market saturation](), and in some cases, [employer bias]() against recent college grads. With that view in mind, all the CEO bluster looks less like an imminent crisis brought on by AI, and more like business as usual in a [market economy](). What workers do about that whole situation is another story altogether. **More on Automation:** [*Professors Staffed a Fake Company Entirely With AI Agents, and You'll Never Guess What Happened*]() ## 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]()