Anthropic CEO frets about 20% unemployment from AI, but economists are doubtful

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is worried that AI could eliminate half of entry-level white collar jobs in five years.

There are many other potential labor risks lurking about, such as the threat of massive tariffs on imported goods in the US, layoffs intended to undo pandemic-era overhiring, and policies that empower employers at the expense of labor.

But Amodei appears to believe that policymakers are “sugar-coating” the possibility of major AI-driven employment disruption. That’s a polite interpretation of the Trump administration’s no-questions-asked AI policy, which by executive order tossed Biden-era AI safety rules and has celebrated AI infrastructure deals.

Amodei voiced this concern in an interview last week with Axios amid Code with Claude, Anthropic’s first developer conference. He suggested that unemployment could reach 10 to 20 percent in the next one to five years.