"The Shock of the CEO's Words: 'Half of Us Will Lose Our Jobs to AI'"—The Day the Future of Work Began to Shift

1. The Winds Have Changed—Business Leaders Begin to Speak Their "True Feelings"

"Jobs won't disappear, they'll just change form"—the world's CEOs, who have been repeating this optimistic view, changed their tone dramatically after the summer of 2025. The turning point was an article in the German IT magazine COMPUTER BILD (dated July 4, 2025), which reported on a roundtable discussion. There, top executives from several major companies declared that "half of white-collar jobs can be replaced by generative AI," effectively abandoning the previously held "optimistic employment" stance as mere lip service.

The most candid statement in the article came from Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, America's largest automaker. "We've experienced the pain of automation in factories over the past decade. The next decade will see office workers facing the same fate," he said, asserting that **"AI can write job postings, conduct performance evaluations, and generate daily reports—these processes alone can replace 50% of all white-collar workers."** Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic and one of the panelists, also warned that "a 10-20% increase in unemployment is the greatest risk society is unprepared for."

Major U.S. IT companies, which had previously distanced themselves from the notion of "mass unemployment due to AI," have also intensified their statements. Satya Nadella of Microsoft stated at an investor briefing that "we have entered an era where Copilot writes 30% of new code," while Marc Benioff of Salesforce boasted, "We'll replace half of development and customer support with Einstein GPT, increasing our operating profit margin by 10 points in three years." The "efficiency appeal competition," where companies openly discuss workforce reductions, has begun.

An unexpected "opponent" is Sam Altman of OpenAI. Appearing on a NYT podcast, he calmly analyzed, "There is always social inertia in the adoption of technology. Jobs won't be halved in a few years, but if we fail to prepare, the delayed impact will be greater." This statement has sparked a major debate on social media, creating a narrative of "CEOs who incite crisis vs. developers who postpone it."

2. "Half of White-Collar Workers Will Become Unnecessary"—Ford CEO's Shocking Statement

Leading the charge was Ford's CEO Jim Farley. His statement that "50% of white-collar workers in the U.S. can be replaced by AI" spread through the media worldwide via the U.S. Wall Street Journal, shattering the myth that white-collar jobs are safe.golem.de

3. The Era of 20% Unemployment?—A Warning from the President of Anthropic

Dario Amodei, CEO of the generative AI startup Anthropic, warned that the unemployment rate could "reach double the current rate, between 10-20%." He urged governments and companies to "stop escaping reality and urgently establish safety nets."golem.de

4. Amazon's "Logic of Workforce Reduction"—The Inside Story of 30,000 Job Cuts

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy streamlined about 30,000 employees in just the first half of 2025. He boasted that "the number of robots has surpassed humans," promoting automation from warehouses to call centers. While cost reductions boosted stock prices, the hashtag <#RobotsWon> is trending with criticism on social media.news.com.au

5. "Explain the Reason for Hiring to AI"—Hiring Guidelines from Shopify and Duolingo

Small and medium-sized SaaS companies are following suit. Shopify and Duolingo have instructed their hiring departments to "prove that a human cannot be replaced by AI before hiring." Technological unemployment has become a reality even for startups.computerbild.de

6. 30% of Code is AI-Generated—The Efficiency Race of Pichai, Benioff, and Nadella

Sundar Pichai of Google stated that "30% of new code is written by AI," and Marc Benioff of Salesforce proudly announced that "half of customer service and development is entrusted to AI." COOs are also competing to present figures, and the "efficiency appeal competition" for investors is heating up.t3n.de

7. The Hashtag <#HalfTheJobs> Ignites on X (formerly Twitter)

Following these CEO statements, the hashtag <#HalfTheJobs> surged on X. Posts sarcastically suggesting "cars will only sell half as much" and radical opinions like "fund UBI with an AI tax" appeared, along with realistic voices predicting "a rush to vocational schools." On Reddit, similar threads reached 2,000 comments in a single day.reddit.com

8. Confessions of "Self-Worthlessness" Spread on LinkedIn

The debate is also fierce on LinkedIn, a business-focused social network. An engineer posted that "the message of half the jobs disappearing is equivalent to declaring humans 'useless,'" garnering 30,000 reactions.linkedin.com

9. Sam Altman's "Contrarian" Theory of Social Inertia

Sam Altman of OpenAI calmly analyzed on a NYT podcast, "Even if technology is ready, there is social inertia. Half of the jobs won't disappear in a few years." However, opinions are divided on whether this "time-lag cushion" will soften the unemployment shock or merely postpone the crisis.indianexpress.com

10. Economists Propose "Clever Demand Creation"

A group of MIT researchers suggested that directing AI efficiency toward fields with large latent demand, such as healthcare and education, could enhance employment absorption capacity. They warn that in industries like law, where "demand elasticity" is low, workforce reductions are more likely to directly lead to unemployment.medium.com

11. Policy Movements—EU AI Law and Japan's Job Training Vouchers

In June 2025, the EU passed an amendment to the AI Act, mandating "employment impact assessments" for large-scale implementations. In July of the same year, the Japanese government also decided in a cabinet meeting to extend the employment insurance benefit period and provide reskilling vouchers worth up to 300,000 yen. Legislation is expected within the year.

12. "Time-Lagged Unemployment" in the Workplace—The Vanishing Middle Management

The first to be shaken by the introduction of generative AI are the middle layers. "Translation" tasks such as daily report creation and subordinate approval checks are instantly handled by AI. Meanwhile, the work style that was evaluated based on overtime and weekend work is becoming hollow, with cries of "even if we stay, the evaluation criteria disappear."

13. Can "Prompt Engineering" Be a Salvation?

Meanwhile, on the U.S. job site Indeed, the average annual salary for a "Prompt Engineer" has reached $350,000. Demand continues to grow, and job postings on LinkedIn have increased sevenfold in a year. However, experts are cautious, noting that "the lack of qualification exams and job function regulations gives it a bubble-like aspect."

14. Three Talent Strategies Companies Are Drawing

1. AI Native Hiring: Require university graduates to submit usage records of CoPilot or Claude (Microsoft)

2. In-house Microlearning: Offer an 8-week generative AI boot camp for free (Ford)

3. Talent Sharing: Reassign surplus personnel across group companies (JPMorgan)

15. The Key to Successful Reskilling is "Self-Diagnosis"

A survey of 100 successful reskilling individuals found that those who "quantified what they were at risk of being replaced by before learning" succeeded in maintaining their income within as little as three months. Conversely, those who "just chose Python for now" were more likely to become job-hunting refugees.

16. The Dark Side of Mental Health—AI PTSD

The American Psychiatric Association is considering adding "AI Displacement Anxiety (AI-DA)" to the 2025 revision of the DSM. Anxiety disorders accompanying AI introduction are being observed regardless of position or age. The development of EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs) by companies is urgently needed.

17. Is "Generative AI Creating New Jobs" Really True?

AI startups created over 70,000 new jobs in 2024, but the industry's net employment decreased by 21,000. In other words, "creation > reduction" has not been achieved. 40% of projects related to generative AI agents have failed, leading to early withdrawals.t3n.de

18. The World is Heading Toward a "Double AI Gap"

(1) Skill Gap: Shortage of personnel capable of handling AI
(2) Job Gap: Shortage of interpersonal service jobs that AI cannot fill
The imbalance between these gaps is what prolongs structural unemployment—this is the estimate by the ILO.

19. Japan's Opportunity is "Time Lag × Aging"

Japan already faces a labor shortage due to its aging population. Paradoxically, the impact of the AI shift is smaller compared to countries where "jobs are surplus." According to estimates by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, if the productivity gains from AI are redirected to caregiving and healthcare, the additional demand for caregivers could be absorbed by 2030.

20. Conclusion—Redefining "Work" in the AI Era

The warnings from CEOs are not empty threats. However, whether we simply fear "halved employment" or reinvest the surplus time and resources to create new jobs depends on how society is designed. The keywords are Re-skill, Re-design, Re-value. History has always seen jobs lost with technological innovation, while simultaneously creating unknown jobs—this time, it's our turn to be part of that change.