OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the rapid growth of artificial intelligence is unlikely to cause the global jobs crisis many people once feared, admitting that his earlier concerns about large-scale white-collar job losses may have been too strong.
Speaking at a conference hosted by Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney on Tuesday, Altman said he had originally expected AI to replace far more entry-level white-collar jobs after ChatGPT was launched in 2022. But according to him, the actual impact on employment has so far been less severe than expected.
“I’m delighted to be wrong about this,” Altman said during a conversation with Commonwealth Bank of Australia Chief Executive Matt Comyn. He added that he had thought more entry-level office jobs would have been eliminated by now than what has actually happened.
Altman said OpenAI had been “roughly right” about how quickly AI technology would improve, but “pretty wrong” about its social and economic effects. He explained that early concerns about job losses came from what looked like a real risk at the time.
He said some people now argue that OpenAI could have avoided creating fear around AI, but Altman defended the earlier warnings, saying the risk appeared serious enough to discuss openly. He also noted that the risk has not completely disappeared.
His comments come as several major companies, including HSBC, Amazon, Standard Chartered and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, have acknowledged that AI tools and automation are already replacing or changing some roles inside their organisations.
However, Altman said he has increasingly realised that human connection remains important in many jobs and cannot be easily replaced by machines. He gave an example of using AI-generated replies for Slack and email messages before deciding to respond personally again.
Altman said the experience showed him that people still care deeply about real human interaction. “We really do care about our interactions with people,” he added.
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