Artificial intelligence may not eliminate work altogether, but it could still cause deep disruption to workers, according to Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.
At a panel on AI and the future of work alongside economist Simon Johnson, entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, and AI researcher Rumman Chowdhury, Hughes said he expects AI to have a “meaningful effect” on labor markets—even if fears that machines will eliminate jobs entirely are overstated.
“I’m concerned about the welfare of those workers and how they find a new job,” Hughes said.
While he isn’t worried about the growing number of companies building tools designed to automate tasks traditionally performed by people, Hughes pushed back on the idea that AI will make human work obsolete.
“AI attempts to replace human cognition at times,” he said. Still, intelligence is multidimensional, encompassing emotion, anticipation, empathy, and judgment—qualities he believes will remain uniquely human.
The debate comes amid a wave of corporate layoffs tied—at least rhetorically—to AI.
Companies, including Meta and Amazon, have cut thousands of roles while ramping up their investments in AI infrastructure. Jack Dorsey’s fintech company, Block, slashed its workforce in half citing “intelligence tools” as a reason for reducing headcount.
However, other panelists said the narrative is more complicated, raising questions about whether AI is truly replacing workers or simply providing a convenient explanation for broader corporate restructuring.
“[Block’s] stock went up over 20% within 24 hours,” said Yang, after Dorsey made his announcement. “Regardless of whether you question the true nature of whether it is intelligent tools—there’s a term for it now, ‘AI-washing’—but to me, it’s indisputable that it’s now going to be the narrative playbook that CEOs of public companies crip from.”
Yang’s comments echo concerns raised by policymakers. In a recent podcast appearance, White House AI advisor David Sacks said AI executives are “scaring the bejeezus out of the public” with warnings about the technology’s potential impact.
Leaders including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have cautioned that advanced AI systems could displace large numbers of white collar jobs. Amodei has also said that he cannot rule out the possibility that Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, could one day exhibit signs of consciousness.
Investors may reward such efficiency moves. However, in a recent report, the research firm Forrester pointed to a growing trend of “AI-washing,” where companies attribute layoffs to AI even when the cuts are primarily driven by financial pressures.
Forrester’s analysis suggests automation will have a “real but modest” impact on employment through 2030. The firm estimates AI could account for about 6% of total U.S. job losses—roughly 10.4 million roles—but said widespread AI-driven job replacement remains unlikely.
During the panel, Chowdhury questioned how often those claims reflect real productivity gains. “A lot of the benchmarks that have been built around productivity gains or replacing workers have atomized work down to individual tasks,” she said. “No one’s job is like that.”
In some cases, Chowdhury suggested, layoffs attributed to AI may instead reflect companies correcting pandemic-era hiring surges.
Beyond immediate layoffs, panelists also worried about how AI-driven shifts could affect younger workers entering the labor market.
Johnson noted that many young people already face a crisis of anxiety about their career prospects. “If we’re not careful,” he said, “an entire generation is not going to acquire the kinds of skills and experience that people usually acquire in their 20s.”
Despite those concerns, Hughes said the discussion should ultimately focus less on technological inevitability and more on policy choices.
“I don’t also think that [AI] ultimately will take the place of humans,” Hughes said. “[But] a lot of workers are going to experience a lot of harm, and we have to think carefully about how to develop public policy.”