Conversations around artificial intelligence took centre stage in Davos this week as global leaders gathered for the World Economic Forum meeting. Executives from technology, finance and industry shared their views on how AI is reshaping economies and employment. Across multiple panels and closed door meetings in Davos, the message was clear that AI will play a defining role in the global workforce over the next decade.
During more than a dozen meetings with senior executives in Davos, 2 major themes stood out. Leaders said the focus is moving away from AI led cost cutting toward AI driven growth and profitability. Many CEOs now want to unlock long term value from AI rather than use it only to reduce headcount. At the same time, uncertainty about jobs remains high, with opinions divided on whether AI will eliminate roles or create new opportunities at scale.
Several viewpoints highlighted this divide at Davos. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said AI will replace many jobs and warned that software engineers could become obsolete within 6 to 12 months. A unicorn AI startup CEO took the opposite view, saying AI will create more jobs than it replaces and could dramatically increase wealth creation, similar to how the internet expanded entrepreneurship. A Big Tech executive said AI should be seen as a human substitute rather than just a tool, noting that engineers are already writing less code and customer support roles are rapidly changing.
More balanced views were also shared in Davos. An Asia based technology CEO predicted a V shaped employment curve, with job losses followed by strong growth as new roles emerge. ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said his 30,000 employee company has avoided layoffs despite using agentic AI. Workers displaced by automation are retrained or reassigned through internal programs. “I told the team I only wanted nines and tens,” he said. “If they listened to me, why would they get rid of a nine or a ten?” David Sacks, AI and crypto czar for the Trump administration, said job fears are overstated and warned that pessimism could slow US progress compared to China. Toptal CEO Taso Du Val added that job demand is currently rising. Despite differing views, Davos leaders agreed that AI transformation is approaching fast and must be guided by strong safeguards.
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