Fear is real. In meetings, dull chat, and later work drinks, a question is quietly eating away from millions of employees: will AI take my job?
Publicly, the CEO likes to assure. They say that generic AI will “increase productivity” or “streamline operation”. But when you really read what they are telling their own employees, or what the investor slips in the memo, the message is chilling: the virtual workers are here, and they are not just helpful. They are replacement.
Let us closely look at what some of the world’s most powerful technical CEOs are saying. Not in promotional videos, but in official internal messages, blog posts and investors updates.
1. Amazon’s Andy Jassi: “We will need fewer people”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassi recently Published A company-wide message that seems appropriate, until you really read it.
“As we roll more liberal AI and agents, it should change our way of work. We will need to do some people doing today that are being done today … We hope that it will reduce our total corporate tasksfire as we will get efficiency benefits from using large scale AIs in the company.”
Main phrase? “Next few years.” It is speaking from corporate 2026 to 2028. Not ten years away. This is soon.
Jassy is not only talking about automatic or repetitive tasks. He is preparing employees for a reality, where the AI takes up the categories of the entire job across the board, and where the machines can now do it at work or completely stops for the roles.
2. Louis von Ahan of Duulingo: “The headCount will only be given if” AI cannot work
In a memorandum Posted For LinkedIn, Luis von Ahan, CEO of Duulingo, was even more blunt. “Most of the tasks will be a specific initiative to change fundamentally how they work … the headcon will only be given when a team cannot automatically automatically automatically automatically given their work.”
Translation: Unless your job is impossible for AI, no other work is seen. The company is betting that most teams will soon need fewer humans.
3. Shopify’s Tobi Lütke: AI why can’t AI do this?
Shopify’s CEO Toby Loote shared a similar instruction on X: “Before asking for more headcounts and resources, teams should display why they can’t find what they are using AI … What would this area look if the autonomous AI agents were already part of the team?” Lütke is openly asking managers to re -read the teams such as AI agents are already integrated, and to explain why any human is still necessary.
– Toby Lutke (@Tobi) 7 April, 2025
The message of these CEOs is clear: Human employees are now the last solution. The new default is automation.
Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff recently stated that AI is already working 50% within its company, announcing 1,000 another job cut shortly before. The CEO of Clarna, a prominent Fintech company, was even more blunt, revealing that AI has already allowed the company to reduce its workforce by 40%.
Reality: Virtual workers already exist
These are not future scenario. This is already happening.
The reason for this sudden change is the rapid development of AI technology. As Openai CEO Sam Altman recently explained in podcast, the latest “Reasoning Model” has made a significant jump. In simple words, these AI systems can now be more than only obtaining information; They can “think” through complex, multi-step problems. ALTMAN suggested that these models may be at a parliamentary with someone having PhD, meaning that they are now able to perform high level analytical functions once reserved for highly educated humans.
This capacity is being actively exploited. Three sources working in Major AI Labs told Gizmodo that they are training powerful models to do real -world functions in almost every “knowledge work” profession, including banking, financial analysis, insurance, law and even journalism. These sources, who requested oblivion as their contracts, prevent them from speaking publicly, how their work is used comparatively with the AI model to refine technology until it can produce professional grade output with minimal errors. Virtual employees are already doing our work; The current stage is just about making them more perfect.
“Next a few years” Jassi may have said that he is close to two years.
Sorting is accelerating
Consider the recent retrenchment trends of the tech industry. In 2024, 551 tech companies closed about 152,922 employees, according to data Sorting This year the speed has intensified dramatically. In the first six months of 2025, 151 tech companies have already closed over 63,823 people. On average, a tech company cut 277 workers in 2024. If that rate is maintained for the remaining year, the average number per tech company in 2025 will increase to 851, about three times the 2024 average.
While there is no direct proof connecting all these layoffs with AI, this trend is taking place during the period of economic strength. Nasdaq simply closed at a high time, and eight of the ten largest companies in the world are in the technical field. Beneficial, growing companies are shedding workers at a dangerous rate, and the calm implementation of AI is the most logical explanation.
Take ours
Tech CEO will not tell you outright that you are being replaced. But the memo speaks for themselves.
AI is already here, and your company is likely to build a roadmap to make you out of your role. An internal pilot project at a time. A chatbot at a time. A rental at a time. If you want to understand what is next to the American workforce, do not listen to marketing. Read footnotes in CEO’s blog. Because they are already telling you the truth.
