Mark Zuckerberg Argues AI ‘May Shrink’ Companies, But There Will Still Be Plenty of Jobs
Mark Zuckerberg Argues AI ‘May Shrink’ Companies, But There Will Still Be Plenty of Jobs
Sam GilletteTue, August 11, 2026 at 5:07 PM UTC
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Mark Zuckerberg; A data center in Vernon, Calif.Credit: Wally Skalij/Getty; Mario Tama/Getty -
In a recent manifesto, Mark Zuckerberg discussed the benefits of AI despite the risks
He said he believes “superintelligence” will empower small businesses and lead to breakthroughs in industries like health and education
Currently, about 300 million jobs are vulnerable to AI automation
As artificial intelligence becomes an even larger force in industries across the globe, Mark Zuckerberg believes that there will be “an abundance of jobs in the future,” even if companies downsize.
“Company sizes may shrink — just as they did in the transition from industrial giants to tech companies,” Zuckerberg, the 42-year-old CEO of Meta, wrote in a 6,500-word manifesto titled “The Future is for Everyone: The Path to a Positive AI Future,” which was published on the company website on Monday, Aug. 10.
He added, “But this doesn’t mean fewer jobs overall. It implies a larger number of companies with fewer people each.”
In Zuckerberg’s view, there are more companies to be built than can be currently created, but that will change with AI.
“I expect we will start seeing small numbers of people with personal superintelligence agents able to run companies at significant scale,” he continued. “In the future, small businesses will continue to be the backbone of the economy, but each small business will be able to have a much larger impact.”
The impact of “superintelligence” on job growth is just one of many points Zuckerberg made in response to the “doom”-filled conversation around the technology’s development. In the billionaire’s opinion, AI requires adjustment, but is also a space of endless opportunities — mirroring other technological advancements throughout history.
He argued that with proper government regulation and oversight to mitigate risk, people worldwide can have access to the growing technology. As a result, ingenuity will surge, such as life-saving medical advances and access to education for people of all backgrounds.
Mark Zuckerberg.Credit: Will Oliver/EPA/Getty
For Zuckerberg, the birth of AI is “an incredible moment in history.”
“In the next few years, people will be able to use superintelligence beyond human capacity to create and discover extraordinary new things, build new businesses, express new ideas, learn new concepts, and advance our health and quality of life,” he wrote, adding that it’s important to develop a framework in which to use AI so that “it improves all of our lives, work, communities, freedom and safety.”
Zuckerberg said he is even seeing a real-time impact at home.
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“My 8 year old daughter can already code her ideas and produce videos in an evening that would have either taken me months or been impossible previously,” he wrote. “Now we’re designing a robot together.”
While such advancements do have a direct impact on jobs, Zuckerberg predicted that there will still be space for everyone.
“Recent statistics suggest it may be more likely that individuals’ capability growth could match or outpace automation, in which case people will gain the ability to do many new things before their current jobs change,” he said. “This would lead to a healthy balance and potentially even job growth.”
Across the world, approximately 300 million jobs are vulnerable to AI automation, according to Goldman Sachs Research. In the U.S., AI could automate 25% of all work tasks. Jobs in the creative, knowledge and technology sectors are already being hit by AI.
A ChatGPT logo on a smartphone.Credit: Cheng Xin/Getty
Joseph Briggs, the co-lead on the global economics team for Goldman Sachs Research, believes that it will take a decade for companies to adopt AI on a large scale, resulting in the displacement of 6-7% of workers. If the transition occurs over 10 years, the research team anticipates a 0.6 percentage point increase in the rate of unemployment.
“But if it’s more frontloaded, the impacts on the economy are much larger,” Briggs said, according to Goldman Sachs. But the research team says that AI may also create jobs. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about how this will play out,” he noted.
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Zuckerberg took on an optimistic view of the future.
“The arc of human civilization has bent towards putting more power in people’s hands to live and shape the world in the ways we believe are best,” he concluded in his manifesto. “Superintelligence holds the promise of giving everyone that power, and building a positive future for everyone.”
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Source: “AOL Money”
