- A survey found that 99% of CEOs expect AI to lead to job cuts.
- Only 32% of the CEOs believed that the workforce can combine both human and machine worker capabilities optimally.
- The survey comes after mass layoffs by Met
Supporters of artificial intelligence as well as leaders in the industry may believe that job losses due to AI are overblown but CEOs have a different take on the matter.
A new study from consulting firm Mercer found that almost every employer is planning to cut jobs due to AI. Of the 825 C-suite leaders and 1,650 HR leaders surveyed in The 2026 Global Talent Trends, as much as 99% of the executives said they expect AI to lead to at least some job losses in the next two years.
Almost as many (98%) said they are also planning organisation design changes in two years.
Only 32% of the CEOs surveyed expressed belief in the idea that the workforce can combine both human and machine worker capabilities in an optimal manner. Almost two-thirds (63%) think that redesigning work to include AI and automation will drive the greatest return.
The survey follows mass job cuts by Meta, which fired 8,000 employees this month. Another 7,000 employees were reassigned to AI initiatives. Pinterest, Amazon and Dow have also implied that artificial intelligence was the reason behind recent layoffs, Moneywise reported.
This comes despite OpenAI chief Sam Altman saying that the rapid development and adoption of AI would not result in a global "jobs apocalypse" and the technology has not resulted in as many white-collar layoffs as feared.
Speaking virtually at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) conference in Sydney earlier this month, Altman said he was initially concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on global employment levels, as per Reuters.
"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 said in an interview with CBA Chief Executive Matt Comyn.
The OpenAI boss revealed he had realised that even though artificial intelligence was taking an increasingly active role in many sectors and jobs, a 'human part' of employment remained which was not replacable.
Altman recalled that he had been using AI to reply to Slack and email messages but had gone back to answering some himself.
Consumers Push Back Against AI
While investors remain upbeat about AI, consumers are not so keen about the technology.
A recent report by JPMorgan found that even after market excitement over AI, no clear increase in usage was found among either workplaces or households. Only 12.6% of respondents in the survey reported daily AI use last week, up by two percentage points from a year ago.
