- AI likened again to the Dotcom bubble, companies warned of post-bubble downfall
- Cisco CEO warns of “carnage along the way” as employment changes
- IMF boss says AI will hit the labor market “like a tsunami”
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has warned that, although AI will create new opportunities, it will also be responsible for “carnage along the way” with many companies unlikely to survive any post-bubble shakeout.
Speaking with the BBC, Robbins argues AI will ultimately be “bigger than the internet,” indicating that there’s more to come, much like how the Dotcom bubble preceded the longer-term internet transformation.
But these aren’t baseless projections – Cisco actually survived a similar bubble around the 2000 peak, when its stock fell roughly 80% after surging quickly. Robbins stressed that the same downfall could follow this initial AI boom.
Cisco has already been through one bubble
Moving on to workforce implications, Robbins warned that come roles will be eliminated entirely, and others reshaped. Customer service looks to be the most at-risk area, with colleagues who are “very good using AI” more likely to succeed.
“You shouldn’t worry as much about AI taking your job as you should worry about someone who’s very good using AI taking your job,” he summarized.
Robbins also noted that AI has allowed attacks to become more sophisticated and less detectable, implying that cybersecurity teams might actually have their work cut out, so won’t be immediately affected by AI-induced job losses.
However, despite concerns that AI could be displacing human workers, a new UK Government report says it’s still hard to categorically state that redundancies are a result of AI-driven productivity. Still, UK job adverts fell by 38% for high-AI-exposure occupations between 2022 and 2025 (via McKinsey research).
Robbins isn’t alone in sharing his concerns about AI’s effects on the labor market. Speaking at the recent WEF conference in Davos (via CNBC), International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned AI “is hitting the labor market like a tsunami, and most countries and most businesses are not prepared for it.”
Looking ahead, it’s clear that workers must focus on upskilling to stand out from their competitors in a shifting jobs market.
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