Despite growing fears that artificial intelligence will wipe out white-collar jobs, a top venture capitalist argues the technology will fuel a new wave of economic growth.
In a blog post this week, Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George pushed back against what he calls the AI “job apocalypse” narrative. He argues it relies on a classic economic fallacy-the idea that there is a fixed amount of work available.
“Human wants and needs are anything but fixed,” George wrote. He pointed to history, noting that while Keynes predicted a 15-hour workweek a century ago, automation instead created new industries.
“If automation caused permanent unemployment, the tractor should have broken the labor market forever,” he argued. Instead, productivity gains led to a population boom and new roles in factories, hospitals, and software.
George acknowledges some jobs will shrink, like customer service representatives. But he maintains AI will boost demand for technical workers, including software developers, and ultimately lead to “abundant intelligence.”
The debate continues as CEOs like Elon Musk and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei warn of disruption, while others like Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev forecast a “Job Singularity.”