The Blubber

After spending the day showcasing his company’s AI tools at a developer conference, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei issued a stark warning: within five years, AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.

“As creators of this technology, we have a responsibility to be honest about what’s coming,” Amodei told Axios in an interview published Wednesday. “I don’t think people are really aware of this yet.”

The 42-year-old executive warned that U.S. unemployment could surge by 10% to 20% over the next five years. He said he’s speaking out now in hopes of prompting both the government and other AI companies to begin preparing for the impact.

“Most people don’t realize this is imminent,” he said. “It sounds unbelievable, and people just dismiss it.”

Amodei noted that large language models are advancing quickly, already reaching or surpassing human-level performance in many tasks. Yet, he said, the U.S. government has largely stayed silent on the potential disruption—fearing public panic or concerns about falling behind China in the AI race.

While AI continues to deliver cost savings for businesses, workers remain mostly in the dark about how fast things are changing, Amodei added.

He emphasized that both AI companies and government officials need to stop “sugarcoating” the looming threat of widespread job loss—especially in sectors like tech, finance, law, and consulting. Entry-level roles, he said, are particularly vulnerable.

Amodei’s remarks come as hiring of new graduates by Big Tech companies has dropped nearly 50% from pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from venture capital firm SignalFire. The report links this decline partly to increased adoption of AI.

After sweeping layoffs in 2023 that saw hundreds of thousands of tech jobs cut, mid- and senior-level hiring has started to recover in 2024—but entry-level roles have not followed suit.

This year, early-career professionals made up just 7% of hires at major tech firms—a 25% drop from 2023. At startups, the figure was even lower, at 6%, down 11% from the year before.

According to SignalFire, companies are focusing on bringing in more experienced talent and are often filling junior-level roles with senior hires.

“AI is now doing what interns and recent grads used to do,” said Heather Doshay, a partner at SignalFire who oversees people and recruiting initiatives. “You can now hire one seasoned worker, give them AI tools, and they’ll not only do their own job—they’ll also cover the output of a junior employee, with none of the added overhead.”