OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the rapid rise of AI is unlikely to trigger a global “jobs apocalypse” and that the technology has not eliminated as many white-collar jobs as he once expected, according to Reuters. Speaking virtually at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference in Sydney, Altman said OpenAI had been “roughly right” on its technology predictions since launching ChatGPT in 2022 but “pretty wrong” on the social and economic effects, calling himself “delighted to be wrong” about entry-level white-collar job losses. He said he now believes a “human part” of many jobs cannot be replaced by AI, pointing to his own experience: he had tried letting AI answer his Slack and email messages, with replies labeled “this is Sam's AI,” but reverted to handling some himself. Altman cited no jobs figures, and the comments come as companies including HSBC, Amazon, and Standard Chartered have said some roles are being replaced by AI.
