VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The rapid expansion of the AI revolution across the corporate landscape is fueling widespread "automation anxiety" among employees who fear their jobs may be supplanted by technology. Kyle Hanslovan, speaking on Centre Stage at Web Summit Vancouver, expressed concern that "many will be pressured in the next five years, where their job can be automated."
This sentiment comes as major tech companies are actively integrating AI, leading to significant workforce adjustments. This week alone, Meta announced another round of layoffs, cutting approximately 8,000 employees, which represents about 10% of its workforce. Concurrently, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, revealed plans to reduce its global staff by 17%, impacting around 3,000 jobs, as it accelerates its AI integration efforts.
In a company-wide memo, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the uncertain future in the AI era, stating that "success isn't guaranteed." Despite these layoffs, Zuckerberg indicated that Meta does not plan further rounds of job cuts this year. The company is, however, strategically shifting approximately 7,000 workers into AI-focused roles.
Data from placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas indicates a substantial impact on the technology sector. Through April 2026, over 85,000 technology sector jobs have been eliminated, marking a 33% increase compared to the same period last year. While this figure reflects a significant rise in tech job losses, the overall number of layoffs across all industries year-to-date is approximately 300,000, which is roughly half the number recorded in the previous year. This reduction is partly attributed to the large-scale federal government layoffs that occurred in the early months of the second Trump administration.
Despite the prevailing anxiety, some industry leaders maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook. Sim Desai, CEO of pre-IPO marketplace Hiive Capital, speaking at the same panel, acknowledged that "inevitably there will be some disruption. We can't pretend that there won't be." However, he also noted that "in the short term, there's a lot of job creation, because a lot of people are investing in adopting AI tools."
This perspective was echoed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently told CNBC that he anticipates an AI-driven labor shortage, stating, "I think there will be a labor shortage because of AI… it's going to elevate all of these people. We're going to have so much productivity."
However, a broader segment of the American population expresses more apprehension. A recent Stanford University study revealed that nearly two-thirds of Americans, or 64%, anticipate that AI will lead to a reduction in the number of available jobs over the next two decades. This anxiety was palpable during former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's commencement address at the University of Arizona, where his remarks about AI's transformative impact were met with significant boos from the graduating class.
Recent college graduates appear to be particularly vulnerable to the evolving job market. Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, has predicted that AI could eliminate as much as half of all entry-level white-collar positions within the next one to five years. Reflecting this trend, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates has risen to 5.6%, a notable increase from the 35-year average of 4.5%, according to data from the New York Federal Reserve.
Despite these concerns, the U.S. economy continues to demonstrate resilience in job creation. The economy added 115,000 jobs in April, surpassing expectations. Kyle Hanslovan of Huntress confirmed his company's hiring efforts, stating, "I am definitely hiring, even now more than I was before," and highlighted the ongoing recruitment of software engineers, detection engineers, product managers, and sales leaders.
Steven Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of the creator marketplace Whop, acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the future of work in the AI era, stating, "the future of work is in question in the era of AI." However, he expressed a lack of pessimism about AI's overall impact on employment, adding that he is "not bearish that AI will take everyone's job" and anticipates having a larger team in two years.
Looking at broader economic data, the U.S. economy has added 304,000 jobs year-to-date in 2026, according to the establishment survey from the Labor Department's monthly employment report. The jobless rate remains at a historically low level of 4.3%.
In a related development, President Donald Trump postponed the signing of a planned AI executive order. The order was intended to establish a federal government pre-vetting process for frontier AI models concerning cybersecurity risks. Trump explained his decision to reporters, stating he withdrew the order at the last minute due to concerns that it could impede U.S. competitiveness in the global AI race, a race he believes America currently leads.
