AI will not replace 'human part' ⁠of employment says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Amid growing layoffs and global workforce restructuring, there has been a growing concern for job displacement with rapid innovation and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. While tech experts predict will automate several routine tasks, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that AI will not lead the global "jobs apocalypse.”

Altman joined the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) conference virtually, during which he acknowledged that initially, there were concerns about AI replacing white-collar jobs. But, he said, he underestimated its benefits and how much the technology would impact jobs, businesses, and society as a whole.

Must read: TSMC cuts employee bonus despite record earnings; Staff likely to go on strike

During an interview with BA Chief Executive Matt Comyn, Altman said, “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 further admits that his “intuition was off” about AI replacing jobs. However, there’s still a real potential risk that it might materialise. Recently, many companies, including Meta, Amazon, HSBC, and others, have stated that AI have already started to replace several jobs within the organisation. However, Altman argued that AI will not be able to displace the “human part” ⁠of employment, despite the technology taking on a larger role across industries and workplaces.

He further highlighted how human interaction is crucial in many tasks and roles, which can not be replaced by AI. “It really, in both positive and negative ways, ​updated me to thinking that the jobs picture is likely to be very different than we thought,” he said.

Must read: Schneider Electric bets big on India’s AI-driven data centre boom; expects segment to outpace core business growth

“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,” he added.

On the other hand, Anthropic’s co-founder Chris Olah highlighted that AI has the potential to displace employees at a large scale. Therefore, there are still contradictory statements about the future of AI, and how it will impact the workforce. However, considering the ongoing wave of layoffs, automation, and rapid adoption of generative AI tools across industries, concerns around job security and workforce disruption may continue.