top line
David Solomon, head of Goldman Sachs, believes fears that advances in artificial intelligence will cause a wave of mass unemployment are “overblown,” writing in an op-ed essay for the New York Times that the U.S. will be able to adapt and expand its workforce.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon speaks on stage during Italian Tech Week 2025.
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket, Getty Images
important facts
In an essay titled “I’m the CEO of Goldman Sachs: The AI Employment Apocalypse Is Overblown,” Sachs argues that AI represents “a huge step forward for society,” but that it comes with “some caveats.”
Solomon acknowledged that AI’s disruption of the labor market “will come with new challenges,” citing a Goldman Sachs analysis that estimates AI could automate 25% of today’s working hours over the next 10 years.
Solomon said it’s difficult to understand the immediate impact of AI on specific blue-collar jobs, but noted that white-collar jobs in fields such as accounting, banking and law are “likely to have a lot of tasks automated.”
The Goldman Sachs CEO cited three reasons why he expects the U.S. economy to remain resilient as AI disrupts employment standards. He believes AI will enable human workers to perform more complex tasks, improve the standards of existing professions rather than make them obsolete, and create jobs for humans to manage the AI used in their companies.
Solomon said if AI is going to disrupt jobs on an unprecedented scale, a “joint effort” from the public and private sectors is needed to help workers and organizations adapt to the new labor market.
important quotes
“In 1930, John Maynard Keynes famously predicted that by 2030 people would only be working 15 hours a week,” Solomon said. “His vision of a future filled with leisure remains unrealized, but it is a reminder that fears about the end of jobs are very likely to lead us to miss the potential of AI to drive economic and productivity recovery.”
chief critic
Daron Acemoglu, an economist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, previously estimated that only 5% of business tasks could be profitably performed by AI between 2024 and 2034, and warned against “over-automation.” Acemoglu said in a 2024 interview that using AI to automate jobs without creating new tasks could lead to labor shortages, lower labor force participation rates, and an increase in “menial, meaningless jobs.” He added that if AI can effectively augment the workforce rather than replace it, then “there is no reason that future unemployment rates will be the same as they are today.”
Main background
In addition to impacting white-collar jobs, AI is also reducing the need for some entry-level jobs, with 51% of organizations reporting in 2025 that generative AI has reduced the need for entry-level jobs, according to McKinsey analysis. Economists at Goldman Sachs found that jobs such as telephone operators, insurance claims representatives, and bill collectors face a high risk of being completely replaced by AI. Meanwhile, roles such as education administrators, doctors and surgeons, construction managers, and CEOs are likely to be enhanced rather than replaced by AI.
Read more
I’m the CEO of Goldman Sachs. The AI job apocalypse is overblown. (New York Times)
