The great AI debate has mostly been about whether the technology will wipe out jobs. But two of the most prominent voices in tech are pushing back on that narrative. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon (AMZN), and Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, argue that AI will actually create a labor shortage, not a wave of unemployment.
Speaking at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Bezos dismissed the idea that AI will make humans redundant. Instead, he argued, AI will expand what businesses can achieve.
"I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage," Bezos said at the conference in June.
His logic goes like this: as AI automates routine work and lowers the cost of creating new products and services, companies will start pursuing opportunities that were previously uneconomical. That will increase, not reduce, the need for human workers.
Of course, there's a bit of a contradiction here. Amazon, along with Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Block (XYZ), has been restructuring and redirecting resources toward AI while cutting thousands of jobs. But Bezos maintains that AI will ultimately help people feel less constrained and remove barriers to success.
Wood makes a similar case, citing data from payroll software provider Ramp. Companies that are adopting AI are actually adding employees faster than their peers. She also points to demographic trends, like retiring baby boomers and tighter immigration, which are shrinking the available labor force. So even as AI adoption accelerates, businesses will be competing for workers.
