You may have felt it.
That weird, low-grade panic in the background. You can feel this in conversations with friends and colleagues.
Every week there will be a post about “artificial intelligence taking over your job”. Another CEO interview. Another layoff headline. Another chart screams: No one is safe.
If you’re a knowledge worker, things are different. Because you can actually imagine it.
But here’s what I think is really happening.
Artificial intelligence will not destroy the economy.
Its purpose is to reset the amount of influence a company has.
Let me explain. First, some background.
The past decade has upended the balance of power
After the 2008/2009 financial crisis, employment opportunities were scarce. Vast amounts of wealth were wiped out. That period trained people to think: Be glad you have a job.
Then the world slowly began to change. More growth, more opportunities.
In the 2010s, the labor market tightened year by year. Unemployment rate falling steadilyand by 2022 it reached its lowest level in decades.
What happens when employees feel confident?
They gave up more. They negotiate harder. They demand flexibility. They no longer tolerate bad managers.
“The Great Resignation” is not a meme. Quit rates soar and remain high. Even the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a complete analysis of this.
Power shifts from the employer to the employee.
This is what makes 2021-2022 feel like a “get out” season.
This is exactly what businesses are always trying to prevent in the long term.
Then ChatGPT came along at the perfect moment
At the end of 2022, ChatGPT will be launched. This started a new era.
First people say, “This is a tool.”
Then, “It comes for simple tasks.”
Now in 2026, the message is: “No one is safe.”
This is not just an idea. Look at the data. Job openings have cooled significantly. In the United States, job openings in December 2025 are down to approx. 6.5 millionthe lowest since 2020.
Wage pressure is also cooling. Employment cost index and wage growth will both slow by the end of 2025, which is exactly what employers and central banks want to see as they try to curb inflation.
So the “labor market overheating” story is now officially over.
Everyone knows this.
Conspiracy theories (and more boring truths)
There is a theory that companies will schedule artificial intelligence to restrain employees.
I don’t buy the “time in the meeting room” version. It’s hard to believe that all the CEOs got together and said, “Let’s unleash artificial intelligence so we can scare our employees!”
But I did buy the incentive version.
When employees gain too much influence, the system fights back. Sometimes it’s a recession. Sometimes it’s offshoring. Sometimes it’s a new management manual. Sometimes it’s technology.
There is even a term in political economy called “labor discipline.”
The idea is simple. High worker power squeezes profits, so capital looks for ways to regain control and reduce labor costs.
It is debatable whether artificial intelligence is released for this purpose or becomes useful only for this purpose.
But the result is the same.
Fear is back in the building!
Fear is an essential part of capitalism
Let’s be completely honest. Why do most people work hard?
Not because they like spreadsheets.
Because there are both carrots and sticks.
The carrot is money, status, comfort.
The rule of thumb is: if you don’t perform, you lose your spot.
When the stick disappears, the effort goes down. Negotiations are going well. Rights rise. Companies hate this.
So what is AI doing now?
It’s putting the stick back on the table.
I’ve heard the same things you’ve heard. People are on edge. They show up more. They perfect their output. They volunteer. They stopped gliding.
CEOs love this.
But this is the part that most doomsdayers miss.
CEO doesn’t want the economy to collapse
If too many people lose their jobs, demand will fall.
When demand falls, revenue falls.
Even if AI makes businesses more efficient, it won’t help if customers can’t pay.
So there is a balance. Businesses want labor to be cheaper and more compliant.
But they don’t want a consumer apocalypse or a severe recession.
This is why the idea that artificial intelligence will destroy everything makes no sense.
If we do head toward economic collapse, the entire system will protect itself.
Government, central bank, business lobbying, regulation. No one in a position of power would watch in silence as an engine explodes.
What we are seeing looks more like normalization.
Lever reset.
The work is not over yet.
The economy is like a living organism
People talk about artificial intelligence as if it is the first technology to replace jobs.
This is not the case.
The printing press replaced the scribe. Electricity replaced all manual labor. The Internet eliminates the middleman. ATMs did not kill bank tellers as everyone predicted.
The pattern usually looks like this:
- Tasks become automated
- New tasks appear
- Costs fall, demand expands
- This shift hurts those stuck in old tasks
Yes, artificial intelligence will automate a lot of knowledge work in the next few years.
But the economy is more than just “knowledge work.” Economics is everything.
housing. vitality. infrastructure. health care. educate. Safety. logistics. manufacturing. sales volume. Serve. put up.
There’s so much to build that it’s almost hard to master. Just look out the window now.
You still see unfinished roads, old buildings, bottlenecks, waiting lists, broken systems, slow processes.
This is the part that most apocalyptic stories ignore.
Even if artificial intelligence can do “all knowledge work,” that doesn’t mean it will happen in real life immediately.
Because artificial intelligence is not magic. It operates based on physical input:
- Data center that must be built
- wafers that must be manufactured
- the electricity that must be generated
- Grid connection must be approved and installed
- Cooling, land, permits and skilled labor to run it all
Those things move very slowly. Not because we are stupid, but because construction, energy and permits always have lead times.
You cannot “ship” a new substation like in software. You can’t spin up unlimited data centers overnight. Many countries are already working to expand their grids and even do basic electrification and electric vehicle charging.
It’s a long transition and there are real limitations. When the real world catches up, the work landscape will change again.
Layoffs are real. Revelation is not.
Yes, layoffs are happening. Some of them now explicitly reference artificial intelligence.
So no, it’s not “nothing.”
But “a few layoffs + scary headlines” is not the same as “it’s all over.”
Of course, as job openings decrease, so do wages.
Inflation peaked in 2022 and has fallen significantly since then.
This is what a reset looks like.
Not a crater.
What should you do instead of panic
If you want an antidote to uncertainty, it’s not coping.
It’s just useful.
It’s not “learning tips”.
- Can you leverage artificial intelligence to deliver results faster?
- Can it save the company money?
- Can it increase income?
- Can errors be reduced?
- Can you communicate clearly?
- Can you manage the project without drama?
- Can you be the person who turns chaos into execution?
That person is still employed.
This is true even during recessions. This is true even amid technology shifts. Even if the tools change.
So relax.
Not because nothing will change.
But because the economy is not over yet.
It is rearranging incentives.
If you stop doomscrolling and start building clout for yourself, you can play this game.
