The CEO who once warned AI would wipe out entire job categories has changed his tune — here's what it actually means for your business.
Speaking at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia event in Sydney this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he had expected far more damage to entry-level white-collar jobs by now than has actually happened, and admitted his earlier predictions were "pretty wrong" on the social and economic impact.
He told the audience he doesn't think a "jobs apocalypse" is coming — a notable reversal from someone who previously said AI would replace most jobs people do today.
The reality so far is more nuanced. Yale's Budget Lab found no meaningful change in unemployment for workers in high AI-exposure roles since ChatGPT launched in 2022. AI is changing how work gets done, but mass displacement hasn't materialised.
For SMBs, the message is simple: AI is a tool, not a takeover. The businesses winning right now are using it to free up their teams — not replace them. The real risk isn't redundancy; it's falling behind competitors who are already working smarter.
One area that's anything but reassuring though is cybersecurity. Attackers are using AI to automate and scale attacks, crafting more convincing phishing campaigns and evading threat detection at a pace businesses need to keep up with.
Your people still matter. Your IT partner still matters. AI just changes what both of you focus on.
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