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Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has countered warnings of widespread job losses due to artificial intelligence, asserting that the U.S. workforce possesses the capacity to adapt to the technology's rapid evolution. His views were published in a guest essay in The New York Times on May 22, 2026.

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AI could automate around a quarter of current working hours within the next decade.

Solomon acknowledged that disruption is inevitable, citing Goldman Sachs research estimating that AI could automate approximately 25% of current working hours within the next decade. He specifically noted that routine tasks in white-collar professions like accounting, banking, and law are likely to be taken over by machines, while the impact on blue-collar roles remains less predictable.

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AI, he argued, will free workers to focus on more complex responsibilities, raise standards within existing professions rather than eliminate them, and create new roles for people who manage and oversee AI systems inside companies.

However, Solomon outlined three key reasons for his optimism about economic resilience. He argued that AI will enable workers to concentrate on more complex responsibilities, elevate standards within existing professions rather than rendering them obsolete, and generate new positions focused on managing and overseeing AI systems within companies. He did concede that if job destruction occurs on an unprecedented scale, a coordinated public and private sector response would be necessary to support displaced workers and institutions.

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if job destruction does occur at an unprecedented scale, a coordinated response between the public and private sectors would be needed to support displaced workers and institutions.

Invoking economist John Maynard Keynes's 1930 prediction of a 15-hour work week, Solomon suggested that historical forecasts about technology and employment often underestimate the potential for increased productivity and economic growth. This perspective aligns with internal Goldman Sachs analysis distinguishing between jobs at high risk of substitution, such as telephone operators, and those more likely to be augmented, like physicians. A separate McKinsey report indicated that 51% of organizations already see generative AI reducing their need for entry-level hires.

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51% of organisations said generative AI was reducing their need for entry-level hires.