AI May Be Creating More Jobs Than It’s Replacing
In this talk, Kevin Surace reports that over the past three years, more workers have been hired with "AI" in their job titles than have been displaced by AI. He explains that as organizations adopt a range of AI tools—agents, generative AI, AI‑assisted quality assurance, and AI‑enhanced coding—they become significantly faster at delivering software features, bug fixes, and marketing content. Initially, CFOs anticipate massive cost savings and consider cutting up to 90% of staff because productivity appears to have increased tenfold. However, business unit leaders quickly realize that the speed gains enable far greater growth potential, prompting them to reverse the cuts and re‑hire staff. Surace notes that many companies have recently experienced this pattern of layoffs followed by rehiring, suggesting that AI is more likely to expand the workforce than to replace it.
