AI May Replace Nearly Every Job — Even CEOs, Warns Pioneer Stuart Russell

AI Pioneer Warns of Mass Job Displacement and a Crisis of Purpose

After more than four decades studying artificial intelligence, UC Berkeley professor Stuart Russell — co-author of the influential textbook Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach and an OBE recipient — warned that AI could displace a vast share of paid work, potentially leaving much of the global population unemployed.

Speaking with entrepreneur Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Russell said political and business leaders may be underestimating the scale of the economic shock ahead. He argued that AI systems are advancing into roles once thought safe from automation, including highly skilled professions.

“Governments and executives are suddenly staring 80% unemployment in the face,” Russell said, adding that machines are already performing “pretty much everything we currently call work.”

Russell pointed to fields such as driving, logistics, accounting, software engineering and medicine as vulnerable to rapid automation. He gave a vivid example — that some AI systems can master specialized tasks very quickly — to underline how fast capabilities can spread across sectors.

He said he spends up to 100 hours a week trying to avert what he views as a historic crisis that could leave many people without paid employment. Russell’s warnings join those of other experts: former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has predicted large U.S. job losses, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has suggested substantial reductions in entry-level white-collar roles. By contrast, leaders such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta’s Yann LeCun emphasize transformation of work rather than wholesale replacement.

Russell also warned that disruption may extend to senior management. He described a scenario in which boards pressure CEOs to cede decision-making to AI systems because competitors using AI are outperforming them.

“Pity the poor CEO whose board says, ‘Unless you turn over your decision-making power to the AI system, we’re going to have to fire you,’” Russell said, highlighting how incentives could push rapid adoption of AI at the highest levels.

Companies including HP, IBM, Salesforce and Klarna have already cited automation as a factor in recent layoffs, and Russell suggested that even large AI companies might employ far fewer humans in the long run.

Beyond Jobs: The Psychological and Social Risks

Russell emphasized that the challenge is not only economic. Humans derive meaning from striving, solving problems and contributing. A future in which machines perform virtually all productive tasks, he warned, risks turning people into passive consumers focused on entertainment rather than active contributors — a state he described as "not conducive to human flourishing."

He called for urgent public discussion and policy planning on the incentives, education systems and social structures needed to navigate this transition. So far, he said, no convincing blueprint exists from researchers, economists or futurists for how to organize a humane society when many jobs vanish.

Sources: Remarks reported from the Diary of a CEO podcast and coverage by Business Insider. This article summarizes Russell’s views, contrasting them with other expert perspectives on how AI will reshape work.