The impact of AI on the job market, particularly entry-level roles, has grabbed headlines following Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s stark warning which has thrust the issue to the forefront of public debate.
The 42-year-old has said that AI may eliminate 50 per cent of entry-level white-collar jobs in the next five years. He also said that unemployment could spike between 10 and 20 per cent by 2030 due to rising AI adoption. Amodei made these remarks in an interview with US-based digital news outlet Axios at Anthropic’s maiden developer conference last month.
He said he was sharing these concerns as a warning for the government and other AI companies so that they could prepare everyone for what is to come. “We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming. I don’t think this is on people’s radar. Most of them are unaware that this is about to happen,” Amodei said. “It sounds crazy, and people just don’t believe it,” Amodei said.
While business leaders are receiving gains from the AI products that they are developing, they also need to stop “sugarcoating” the risks of mass job displacement in fields including technology, finance, law, and consulting, he added.
Meanwhile, the US government has reportedly said little on the matter as it fears losing ground to China in the high-stakes AI race. Amodei also acknowledged the irony of his warning, even as his AI startup continues rolling out products responsible for the disruption. “It’s a very strange set of dynamics, where we’re saying: ‘You should be worried about where the technology we’re building is going,’” he was quoted as saying.
But Amodei’s comments should not be viewed in isolation. Recently, a report by the venture capital firm SignalFire found that big tech firms’ hiring of new grads dropped about 50 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, partly because of rising AI adoption.
While job roles across the board were affected in 2023, hiring for mid- and senior-level roles bounced back last year. New graduates, on the other hand, make up just seven per cent of hires by big tech firms, down from 25 per cent in 2023, as per the report.
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Since Amodei’s warning about AI and jobs, several others have weighed in on the growing debate.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has unequivocally disagreed with Amodei’s views. “Someone needs to remind the CEO that at one point there were more than 2m secretaries. There were also separate employees to do in-office dictation. They were the original white collar displacements,” Cuban wrote in a post on Bluesky on Wednesday.
“New companies with new jobs will come from AI and increase TOTAL employment,” he added.
Speaking at this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that AI is reshaping the job market at present and not sometime in the distant future. “Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable. You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI,” Huang said.
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“I would recommend 100% of everybody take advantage of AI. Don’t be that person who ignores this technology and as a result, loses your job,” he continued.
At a time when people are understandably focused on the daily chaos in Washington, these articles describe the rapidly accelerating impact that AI is going to have on jobs, the economy, and how we live. https://t.co/RSbMkhz3Xm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 30, 2025
Former US President Barack Obama shared his inputs as well. “At a time when people are understandably focused on the daily chaos in Washington, these articles describe the rapidly accelerating impact that AI is going to have on jobs, the economy, and how we live,” he wrote in a post on X. “Now’s the time for public discussions about how to maximize the benefits and limit the harms of this powerful new technology,” Obama further said.