- AI CEOs warn entry level jobs are being taken by AI
- Executives don’t want to promote employees who can’t use AI
- Gen Z workers are sabotaging AI rollouts in protest against the technology
At the World Economic Forum in January 2026, Palantir CEO and co-founder Alex Karp declared AI “will destroy humanities jobs,” but will benefit the market for vocationally trained, creative people.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also warned about the future effects of AI on the job market, stating that the technology could destroy half of all entry level, white-collar jobs.
But a recent report has now found Gen Z workers aren’t going down without a fight, with many actively sabotaging their companies’ AI rollouts.
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Gen Z versus AI
The report [PDF], conducted by enterprise AI agent firm Writer and research firm Workplace Intelligence, found 29% of employees are actively sabotaging their companies’ AI rollout, with the figure jumping to 44% among Gen Z workers.
Many employees who feel threatened by AI technology are simply refusing to use AI tools mandated by their company, with others feeding proprietary company information into public AI systems in an effort to sabotage rollouts.
But those who refuse to submit to their AI overlords may actually be sabotaging their own careers, with 77% of executives saying they would be less likely to offer promotions or leadership roles to AI abstainers.
Younger workers are increasingly recognizing (and feeling the effects) of the growing disconnect between productivity and compensation, with AI likely exacerbating the problem. A 2016 study by the National Association of Colleges and Employees (NACE) found that the average starting salary for a bachelor’s graduate has risen by only 5% (adjusted for inflation) since 1960.
The negative opinion on AI isn’t held by Gen Z workers alone. An NBC News poll recently found that 46% of registered US voters hold a negative view of AI, compared to just 26% with a positive view.
Many of these views are likely the result of the threat posed by AI to white-collar jobs across the labor market. An Anthropic study published in March found that its Claude model is capable of completing most of the tasks associated with jobs in the fields of computer science, law, business, and finance.
In an interview with Axios, the Palantir CEO said, “If you are the kind of person that would’ve gone to Yale, classically high IQ, and you have generalized knowledge but it’s not specific, you’re effed.”
Gen Z workers entering the workforce are finding themselves at odds with the modern world, having spent their formative years pursuing an education for jobs that might not exist within a decade – and the message from AI CEOs and executives is clear; evolve or die.
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benedict.collins@futurenet.com (Benedict Collins)
