Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Think AI Will Replace Human Workers, Weeks After Meta’s Mass Layoffs

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said that AI would not lead to mass-scale job losses and advocated for companies to focus on “personal super intelligence” while using the tech.

02 Jul 2026, 18:27 · www.ndtv.com

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Meta laid off 8,000 employees in May.
Weeks later, Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back on the idea that AI could replace people.
Earlier, OpenAI boss Sam Altman had walked back on his claims about large-scale job disruption from AI

How does personal super intelligence help workers be more productive?

Meta sparked worries in May when it announced mass layoffs. The tech giant fired 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce, and reassigned another 7,000 people to AI-related teams. Weeks after the layoffs, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back on the idea that artificial intelligence could replace employees.

In a live interview for Complex's Idea Generation, Zuckerberg said that he did not believe it was inevitable that AI would replace human workers.

"I think that people assume that that's inevitable," Zuckerberg said, adding, "I don't actually think it is."

He pointed out that the job situation could improve if firms shifted their focus from "automating all knowledge work" to “personal super intelligence”. The comment was a thinly-veiled dig at AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, while also promoting Meta's own artificial intelligence vision.

He called out the idea about a future where a few firms would drive automation of knowledge, claiming it was “not great”. Instead, Zuckerberg advocated for a balance of sorts.

"If you have a balance where some companies are focused on making it so that companies can work more efficiently, but others are focused on more of this personal super intelligence vision where you're like empowering individuals and making people more productive at each step along the way, then I think it's probably going to be pretty good," he said.

Zuckerberg also theorised if workers are made productive at a faster rate than companies get better at automating processes, there should be more job creation in the future, not less.

The Meta CEO is not the only one to dismiss the idea of AI replacing humans. In May, OpenAI boss Sam Altman had walked back on his earlier claims about large-scale job disruption from AI. Altman said that he was glad to be “wrong” on the matter.

While Altman and Zuckerberg have stated that AI won't cause large scale job losses, several firms have cited artificial intelligence as a reason behind mass layoffs.

A report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas pointed out that while job losses in the month of June were 53% lower compared to May, the tech sector still accounted for a third of all layoffs announced this year.

In June, AI was the biggest reason for job cuts, accounting for 14,029 layoffs or 31% of the total firings. AI has been cited in 101,743 job cut announcements so far this year.

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