Block CEO Jack Dorsey’s announcement of an AI-driven 40 percent reduction in the company’s workforce—followed by other major industries justifying layoffs as related to AI—created immediate speculation about AI. impact on white employment. While the news also sparked an immediate increase of more than 20 percent in Block’s stock price, the more important issue is how AI will ultimately impact the future of employment—for better or worse.
IDCA research shows that in addition 100 million new IT-related jobs around the world will be needed over the next decade to match the expected growth of large AI industries and data centers that will fuel the digital economy they are helping to create. Yet that same growth—and the economic benefits that AI promises—is seriously threatened by technology’s ability to eliminate many labor-intensive jobs.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently warned of the threat of AIurging that “now is the time” to start thinking about the impact of AI on the company’s workforce—before major job losses. In his view, his company is smartly integrating AI processes into its operations, as it has what Dimon calls. “major replanting programs” to deal with the future of its employees.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said at an investor conference in 2024, “We’re going to see 10-person companies with billion-dollar valuations very soon… [it] it will happen.”
Unfortunately, it is very likely that more and more companies will begin to replace their hard-working employees in large numbers, dislocating their organizations, and potentially accelerating a broader global economic downturn. The truth is, at this stage, most layoffs would be an over-reaction of the cycle. Technological maturity is not enough to replace a full-time and experienced workforce. Many organizations are not clear about which roles can be effectively replaced by AI, or how they will fill job gaps if AI, in its current state, shows that it cannot fully take on those responsibilities.
Ironically, while AI is a productivity enhancer for some roles, for others, it actually reduces productivity, narrows the innovation spectrum and limits a company’s ability to think outside the box. So, at the moment, AI cannot really replace human workers.
However, this is just the beginning. The maturation of AI and the replacement of the bulk of the human workforce is probably only a matter of time. With massive computing power, access to vast amounts of information and unprecedented levels of investment, AI will continue to dominate organizations, corporations and governments alike.
Massive layoffs are coming, wave after wave. The problem is that these are professionals with solid education and seemingly solid positions: analysts, engineers and technicians who maintain respectable standards of living. Their migration will represent an economic burden and a global social problem. Worryingly, no nation seems prepared for what lies ahead. Little serious consideration has been given to how rising middle-class unemployment can be controlled, or how social unrest and economic stagnation can be prevented.
This suggests that, if left unchecked, and assuming the world can build enough capacity to power the data centers needed to implement a mature AI ecosystem, the AI ecosystem could eventually replace many tasks that rely on intelligence. Human understanding, our ability to analyze, synthesize and make logical solutions, remains one of the last important skills not completely given to machines. But as AI’s power grows, its reputation grows while ours contracts. As this situation continues, we will lose our ability to work and work, even if there were jobs, which there won’t be.
Ultimately, competition itself may be a matter of registration. Every role in the company will be assigned special AI agents that cater to the needs of each employee. A company’s edge over another will be based on its ability to buy the best AI and computing power, not its workforce. This will turn the competitive landscape into a gray and obsolete spectacle.
Can AI improve access to information, aid research and increase scientific achievement? Yes. Should we prevent technology from growing and developing? No, it shouldn’t. But there is a threat associated with the development of unincorporated and unregulated AI. There is a real need for clear, global guidelines governing the deployment of AI. Otherwise, people risk creating extraordinarily powerful tools without fully understanding—or preparing for—their long-term implications.
The term “watchdogs” is often used to describe what is needed to reduce the reckless policies of the elimination of workers instead of AI This is not a call for heavy-handed, EU-style interventions or policies that hinder innovation. Rather, it is a call for thoughtful leadership.
Unless business and government leaders seriously grapple with the fundamental question of what the AI revolution can actually achieve—and what unintended consequences they might produce—we will continue to live in the shadow of profound economic and social uncertainty.
Mehdi Paryavi is the CEO and founder of International Data Center Authority (IDCA), the world’s leading Digital Economy think tank. Read theirs Global Digital Economy 2026 Report.
