RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The rise of superintelligence —technology capable of surpassing human cognitive abilities—has fueled fears ranging from an elimination of human labor to more dystopian, Terminator-like visions of what happens when technology goes rogue . But now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing back against the predictions of a job apocalypse once made by his fellow tech CEOs , including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
“I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future,” Zuckerberg wrote in an essay posted to Meta’s website Monday.
“The notion that AI is so dangerous that the only safe path is an extreme concentration of power seems inherently problematic. Historically, hoping that an absolute power will benevolently provide for humanity if sufficiently enlightened has not led to safe or positive outcomes.”
Zuckerberg, who is the world’s sixth-richest person with a net worth of $211 billion, sees AI as a catalyst for an “abundance of jobs in the future,” arguing that people will continue to invent new products and services—and the jobs needed to bring them to life.
He pointed to the fact that a generation ago, commonplace jobs like app developers, social media creators , electric vehicle technicians, and data center operators , barely existed.
And moving forward, the 42-year-old expects a new set of careers to spawn up, such as one-person studio designers creating physical products, world builders building virtual experiences, and personal biologists formulating personalized treatments.
Zuckerberg admits AI automation could bring a ‘difficult period’ for workers in the interim
Despite Zuckerberg’s largely optimistic tone, he acknowledged that the transition could still come with growing pains. If automation outpaces workers’ ability to develop new skills, job displacement could create a “difficult period” for society.
That disruption could be particularly painful without greater investment in training workers in career paths less vulnerable to automation, like in the skilled trades .
“Unlike the concern about knowledge work displacement, there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople like carpenters, electricians, and construction workers to support the demand for infrastructure buildout,” he said.
Earlier this year, Meta committed $115 million into building out America’s Workforce Academy —a training program designed to prepare workers for data-center technician roles. The five-week program provides training at no cost, and graduates are guaranteed a job at one of Meta’s data-center sites.
Zuckerberg says higher education isn’t preparing young people for jobs
Preparing workers for an AI-driven economy isn’t just about creating new career pathways—it also raises broader questions about how people should be educated and trained in the first place.
Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout, has long argued that higher education can leave young people with significant debt without necessarily preparing them for the jobs they will eventually need to fill.
“It would be one thing if [college] was just kind of like a social experience, but you started off neutral. The fact that it’s not preparing you for the jobs that you need and you’re kind of starting off in this big [financial] hole then I think that’s not good,” Zuckerberg said on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast last year.
“There’s going to have to be a reckoning…and people are going to have to figure out whether that makes sense. It’s sort of been this taboo thing to say, ‘Maybe not everyone needs to go to college,’ and because there’s a lot of jobs that don’t require that…people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe like 10 years ago,” he added.
But if Zuckerberg’s vision of the future comes to fruition, AI could make traditional education itself far less necessary.
“Everyone will have a personalized tutor and coach with a PhD in every subject and unlimited patience to help you learn anything you want,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Students will have extra help in areas they need it that is currently only available to those whose parents can pay. Adults will have a superintelligent learning assistant that knows exactly how to teach you new job skills, new languages, new hobbies, or anything else you’re interested in.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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