OpenAI is addressing criticism that artificial intelligence will take away jobs — while promoting AI usage in jobs.
The ChatGPT owner said it’s building out a jobs platform to make it easier for companies to find “AI-savvy” workers, according to a release from the company’s CEO of applications on Thursday.
“At OpenAI, we can’t eliminate [jobs] disruption. But what we can do is help more people become fluent in AI and connect them with companies that need their skills,” she said.
A Thursday report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that while more firms are adopting AI into their workflows, that isn’t necessarily translating into more layoffs — at least not yet.
That particular report found that firms are more likely to retrain their employees on AI rather than make cuts. However, it also found that 13% of service firms using AI expect the tech to influence layoffs over the next six months. Some firms said they’re cutting back on hiring due to the tech or searching for workers already proficient in AI.
However, the Fed’s report is just one of many efforts to track AI’s disruption in the workforce.
Others have noted AI’s direct impact on layoffs, including an early August report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It found that more than 10,000 jobs have been cut so far in 2025 due to AI — “suggesting a significant acceleration in AI-related restructuring.”
As job seekers and workers raise concerns over AI and automation eliminating jobs, OpenAI is swooping in to shape the narrative while simultaneously promoting its own tech.
Included in the upcoming jobs platform will be a “track” focused on “helping local businesses compete,” and another to help local governments find workers who use AI-enabled tools. The company is also introducing OpenAI Certifications, which will cover the “basics of using AI at work all the way up to AI-custom jobs and prompt engineering.” Simo said the company aims to certify 10 million Americans by 2030 through a partnership with Walmart.
“By bringing AI training directly to our associates, we’re putting the most powerful technology of our time in their hands,” Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said in the release.
Simo said both OpenAI’s job platform and its certifications are part of the company’s commitment to the “White House’s efforts toward expanding AI literacy.”
At the end of July, the Trump administration announced “America’s AI Action Plan” to accelerate AI adoption and development in the U.S.
“Jobs will look different, companies will have to adapt, and all of us—from shift workers to CEOs—will have to learn how to work in new ways,” Simo said.
The job market is already significantly squeezed, with a new jobs report released Friday showing only 22,000 jobs were added in August while unemployment rose to a near four-year high at 4.3%.
But as OpenAI pushes its tech in an overly saturated job market and company CEOs — like Shopify’s — tell staff they must prove AI can’t do the job before hiring, workers are facing even more barriers in a difficult market.
Source: Quarzt
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