OpenAI chief Sam Altman said some companies are engaging in “AI washing,” blaming layoffs on artificial intelligence that would have occurred anyway, even as he expects genuine displacement to build in coming years. His remarks arrive amid mixed signals: an NBER survey found about 90% of executives report no AI-driven employment impact since late 2022, while Snap cited AI in recent job cuts and many employers anticipate trims ahead, according to the World Economic Forum. Yale Budget Lab data show little macro labor change to date, echoing Apollo economist Torsten Slok’s nod to the Solow paradox—AI “everywhere except in the data.” Stanford’s Erik Brynjolfsson points to early productivity gains and a decoupling of job growth from GDP, with younger workers in AI-exposed roles seeing the sharpest employment effects. Altman predicts new categories of work will emerge but says AI’s labor impact should become palpable in the next few years.
Related articles:
— Generative AI at Work: The Impact of Generative AI on Call Center Productivity (NBER)
— An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models (arXiv)
