AI has not yet created a 'job disaster'.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes that AI is changing the way people work, but not enough to create a "job catastrophe" as many previously predicted. Photo: Reuters .

Speaking online at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) conference on May 26, Sam Altman admitted that he had overestimated the speed at which AI would replace office workers during the early stages of the technology's boom.

According to Altman, when ChatGPT launched in 2022, OpenAI had fairly accurately predicted the pace of AI development. However, the actual impact on society and the labor market has been much slower than he had envisioned.

"I predicted that AI would have a stronger impact on entry-level office workers," Altman said in a conversation with CBA CEO Matt Comyn.

The head of OpenAI believes that one of the reasons why a mass job loss scenario hasn't occurred yet lies in the need for human interaction in the workplace.

Altman revealed that he had tried using AI to automatically reply to emails and messages. Although the system worked effectively, he said the experience made him realize that many personal interactions are still difficult to completely replace with AI.

"Through this experiment, I understand that the human element in communication is still very important. I can use AI to assist in responding to messages, but it's difficult to leave the entire task to machines," he said.

Based on that experience, Altman believes that AI can change the way humans work, but not enough to eliminate a large number of jobs as many had previously predicted. He also stated that he no longer believes in the "jobs apocalypse" or employment catastrophe – a term used to describe a job crisis caused by AI.

Nevertheless, the impact of AI on the labor market is becoming increasingly evident. Many large corporations such as HSBC, Amazon, and Standard Chartered have begun integrating AI into their operations and cutting some jobs.

Analysts suggest that the current wave of AI shares many similarities with the automation process in manufacturing in the past, where the technology helped businesses optimize costs while simultaneously changing the labor structure on a large scale.

Some experts also argue that it is too early to conclude that AI will not have a serious impact on jobs, because most of the change is still happening silently within businesses through chatbots, AI assistants, and automation systems.

Alongside statements about AI and the labor market, Reuters reported that OpenAI is preparing to file for a cryptocurrency IPO in the US in the coming weeks. The company is reportedly aiming for a valuation of around $1 trillion and could raise at least $60 billion if the deal is successful.