- AI CEOs warn that AI is taking over entry-level jobs
- Executives don’t want to promote employees who can’t use AI
- Gen Z workers are sabotaging AI launches in protest against the technology
At the World Economic Forum in January 2026, Palantir CEO and co-founder Alex Karp declared that AI will “destroy humanities jobs,” but will benefit the market for creative and professionally educated people.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also warned about the future effects of AI on the labor market, stating that the technology could destroy half of all entry-level management jobs.
But a recent report has found that Gen Z workers aren’t going down without a fight, with many actively sabotaging their companies’ AI implementations.
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Generation Z versus AI
the report [PDF]conducted by enterprise AI agent firm Writer and research firm Workplace Intelligence, found that 29% of employees are actively sabotaging their companies’ AI implementation, and the figure jumps to 44% among Gen Z workers.
Many employees who feel threatened by AI technology simply refuse to use the AI tools mandated by their company, and others sneak proprietary company information into public AI systems in an effort to sabotage their implementations.
But those who refuse to submit to their AI overlords may actually be sabotaging their own careers, and 77% of executives say they would be less likely to offer promotions or leadership roles to those who abstain from AI.
Younger workers increasingly recognize (and feel the effects of) the growing disconnect between productivity and compensation, and AI is likely to exacerbate the problem. A 2016 study by the National Association of Colleges and Employees (NACE) found that the average starting salary of a bachelor’s degree graduate has increased only 5% (adjusted for inflation) since 1960.
The negative opinion of AI is not just held by Gen Z workers. An NBC News poll recently found that 46% of registered American voters have a negative opinion of AI, compared to just 26% who have a positive opinion.
Many of these opinions are likely a result of the threat AI poses to white-collar jobs across the labor market. An Anthropic study published in March found that its model Claude is capable of completing most tasks associated with jobs in the fields of computing, law, business and finance.
In an interview with axios, Palantir’s CEO said, “If you’re the kind of person who would have gone to Yale, with a classically high IQ, and you have generalized but not specific knowledge, you’re screwed.”
Generation Z workers entering the workforce find themselves at odds with the modern world, having spent their formative years seeking an education for jobs that might not exist a decade from now, and the message from CEOs and AI executives is clear; evolve or die.
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