Asger Risom
Google boss warns no job is safe from AI.
Artificial intelligence is advancing at a moment when many workers already feel squeezed by a weak job market and stagnant wages. As companies pour billions into new AI systems, anxiety is growing about what the technology will mean for employment and social stability.
Now, one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures is openly acknowledging the turbulence ahead.
A bleak forecast
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said society will need to endure major disruption as artificial intelligence reshapes work and daily life. In a recent interview with the BBC, Pichai described AI as “the most profound technology humanity is ever working on,” adding that “we will have to work through societal disruption.”
Pichai went further, suggesting that no role is immune, including his own. He said that being a chief executive might be “one of the easier things” for AI to replace, even as Alphabet continues to push aggressively into AI development.
Jobs and uncertainty
The comments land amid what economists describe as a “low-hire economy,” with limited job creation, weak wage growth and a rise in freelance or contract work. While AI investment is booming, many workers see little evidence of productivity gains translating into better conditions.
Pichai said AI would “evolve and transition certain jobs,” adding that people would need to adapt. “There will be areas where it will impact some jobs,” he said, arguing that society needs to confront those realities.
Who frames the debate
Critics argue that tech leaders have a strong incentive to frame AI as inevitable and all-consuming. Pichai, who recently became a billionaire, runs one of the companies most heavily invested in the technology.
According to a Business Insider analysis, the jobs most exposed to AI automation are not yet seeing widespread displacement. Instead, factors such as political uncertainty, tariffs and post-pandemic overhiring have contributed to what the outlet described as “recessionary levels of job creation.”
While AI tools have helped companies “gigify” work in areas like translation or software development, analysts say that is not the same as eliminating jobs outright.
Evidence versus inevitability
Economists such as Daron Acemoglu have argued that any large-scale impact of AI on employment may still be years away, if it arrives at all. That contrasts with dire warnings from some tech executives that AI will rapidly upend society.
For now, critics say the risk lies less in automation itself and more in accepting the idea that disruption is unavoidable. With competing claims and growing hype, they argue that policy decisions should be guided by evidence, not fatalism.
You can watch the interview here.
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Source: Business Insider, BBC
