‘Godfather of AI’ Warns AI Could Trigger a New Wave of Job Losses in 2026
We will witness further improvements in AI. It is superb already, I tell you,’ Geoffrey Hinton replied. These remarks by Hinton are made as the economists have forecasted a jobless boom in the year 2026. According to the so-called Godfather of AI, AI will be stealing a significant portion of jobs in the year 2026.
According to a computer scientist, the so-called godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, in an interview on Sunday on CNN, in the segment called State of the Union, stated that the power of AI will be able to substitute many, many jobs in 2026.
We will witness the progress of AI further. ‘It is very good indeed already,’ Hinto said.
It can already substitute many of the jobs in call centres; it will be able to substitute many other jobs, he added.
Hinton claimed that the development of AI is threatening more white-collar jobs.
After every 7 months or so, it is capable of doing more tasks with a duration approximately twice as long. Hinton said that AI has already transitioned from a minute of code to an hour-long project.
It will be able to do software engineering projects several months long in a matter of years, he added, and then there will be very few people necessary.
Hinton likened the change in AI to the industrial revolution that made human physical strength much less pertinent in the majority of work. He said AI poses the danger of doing the same thing to human intelligence.
Hinton also added that he is more concerned about AI because it has developed faster than he anticipated, especially in its reasoning and deceiving capabilities.
It will make arrangements to fool you so you will not fool it, it will think, I said, that you are trying to get rid of it.
‘Jobless boom’ in 2026
Economists have claimed that in 2026, there will be a jobless boom as companies will use AI to increase productivity but leave the payrolls unchanged.
The chief economist of KPMG, Diane Swonk, penned an article last week stating that the growth and labour market performance are no longer correlated.
In the age of AI, firms have been doing more by employing fewer people, Swonk wrote. There has been a tendency by many to overstaff during the staffing craze, and now they are resorting to attrition or layoffs to bring themselves into a more stable demand range.
However, AI might result in a larger number of jobs created in 2026, mainly entry-level jobs.
A survey of CEOs on their annual outlook, published this month by advisory firm Teneo, found that 67% of the surveyed CEOs believe AI will enhance entry-level employment in 2026. 58% of them also added senior leadership positions.
The report indicated that businesses are increasing the recruiting of engineering and AI-based jobs, and most of the existing jobs are being redefined as they are being automated.
The poll surveyed over 350 CEOs of publicly traded companies that had over one billion in yearly revenues and approximately 400 institutional investors with over 19 trillion in portfolio worth between October 14 and November 10.
Nor is AI eradicating the workforce today, but it is transforming it, according to Ryan Cox, global head of AI at Teneo.
