OpenAI chief Sam Altman told Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn he was “pretty wrong” about AI wiping out entry‑level white‑collar jobs, a sharp turn from his June 2025 warnings. He admitted the feared displacement hasn’t materialized and cited personal experiments delegating Slack replies to AI. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are prepping IPOs this year, each valued around $1 trillion.

Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, who once predicted AI could erase half of white‑collar roles, now frames automation as a productivity multiplier: automating 90% of a task frees workers to focus on the remaining 10%, boosting output tenfold. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon reiterated his long‑standing view that history repeatedly shows technology creates jobs, citing a 145% rise in U.S. employment since 1962.

Recent data shows tech layoffs top 115,000 through May 2026, yet Yale’s Budget Lab finds no shift in occupational mix for high‑AI exposure jobs since ChatGPT’s debut. Economists point to Jevons paradox: cheaper AI interactions drive higher demand, keeping roles like call‑center agents stable. Companies continue to invest in AI tools to boost efficiency. The debate settles on AI reshaping work rather than eliminating it.