a16z founder Andreessen holds a similar position, believing that AI is a productivity compensatory mechanism in the context of declining population.

Written by: Bao Yilong

Source: Wall Street Insights

As artificial intelligence accelerates its penetration into various industries, the pessimistic discourse around AI destroying the job market continues to heat up. However, Goldman Sachs CEO published an article refuting this narrative.

On May 22, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon published a signed article in The New York Times, pointing out that the concerns about AI causing "the end of jobs and massive unemployment" are "exaggerated."

He believes that AI will not eliminate jobs but will drive workers to higher-value tasks and create entirely new positions around AI management, deployment, validation, and regulation.

David Solomon also acknowledges that this technological transition will inevitably bring structural pain to the labor market.

Goldman Sachs economists predict that in the next decade, AI may automate around 25% of current work hours, with particularly pronounced impacts on white-collar industries such as banking, law, accounting, software, and customer service.

This statement resonates with voices from the venture capital community. Previously, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen publicly stated that the panic over job losses caused by AI is a "false narrative" and anticipates that AI will overall drive employment growth in the economy.

David Solomon directly addresses the "end of jobs" theory: history has repeatedly disproven it

In the article titled "I am the CEO of Goldman Sachs, and the AI end of jobs theory is exaggerated," David Solomon references multiple technological revolutions in American economic history as evidence.

From electrification, the automobile industry, to the popularization of personal computers, after each wave of technological shock, overall employment levels and living standards have continued to rise.

He believes that AI is likely to continue this historical pattern: while eliminating some jobs, it will expand another batch of positions.

He cites large-scale cloud computing companies, noting that their capital expenditures are expected to reach $700 billion this year alone, which will directly create a large number of construction jobs driven by data center construction.

He emphasizes:

The U.S. economy can and will adapt to significant advances in technology.

David Solomon cites the latest predictions from Goldman Sachs' internal economists, stating that in the next decade, AI is expected to automate about 25% of current work hours. The most affected sectors are white-collar intensive fields such as banking, law, accounting, software development, and customer service.

These industries are all core components of the global capital market, and the systemic changes in their labor cost structures will have a profound impact on corporate profitability, human resource allocation strategies, and even long-term valuation models.

David Solomon points out that if AI truly causes job losses on an unprecedented scale, there should be "collaborative efforts" between the business community and the government to help workers and related institutions adapt to the new employment ecosystem.

a16z founder Andreessen's viewpoint: AI arrives just in time

David Solomon's stance closely aligns with Marc Andreessen's earlier assessment.

The Netscape co-founder and a16z co-founder stated that as many countries' populations enter a shrinking cycle, the structural pressure of labor shortages will continue to accumulate, and AI and robotics are arriving "just when we really need them," serving to prevent the economy from declining in sync with the shrinking population.

This narrative framework positions AI as a productivity compensatory mechanism in the backdrop of waning demographic dividends, fundamentally opposing the pessimistic portrayal of AI as a creator of unemployment floods.

Analysts believe that the public voices of Solomon and Andreessen reflect that mainstream forces in Silicon Valley and Wall Street are actively shaping the narrative of AI's social value, attempting to seize the public discourse before policy debates take shape.

For investors betting on AI infrastructure and related supply chains, the collective statements from business leaders may help stabilize market expectations to some extent; however, the prediction of 25% of work hours in white-collar industries being automated remains a persistent structural risk variable for a considerable time to come.