Ford CEO joins list of execs warning AI could eliminate millions of white-collar jobs

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TL;DR: Ford CEO Jim Farley has joined a growing chorus of prominent business leaders warning that AI could replace millions of jobs in the near future. Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Farley said he believes that "literally half" of all white-collar workers in the US could lose their jobs to artificial intelligence in the coming years.

Farley did not elaborate on his views, but he is hardly the only Fortune 500 CEO who believes AI could spell trouble for educated white-collar workers. Leaders at Amazon, Shopify, JPMorgan Chase, Anthropic, Fiverr, Moderna, and other major companies are now openly admitting what was once discussed in hushed tones on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.

Earlier this week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned that the rapid improvement in generative AI will make many positions redundant within the company. Speaking to CNBC, Jassy said that while AI will replace some roles, it will likely create new opportunities in robotics and other areas requiring STEM skills and technical proficiency.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also warned that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, potentially increasing unemployment by 10 – 20 percent within five years. The company's CPO, Mike Krieger, expressed a similar view, telling The New York Times that he feels "hesitant" hiring new graduates because he doesn't know how long those positions will remain relevant.

Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman recently echoed these concerns, warning that AI could render millions of white-collar workers unemployed, regardless of whether they're programmers, designers, product managers, data scientists, lawyers, customer support reps, salespeople, or financial analysts.

Spotify and Moderna CEOs have also expressed similar views. Spotify's Tobi Lütke has paused hiring pending an internal study to evaluate whether AI can efficiently perform tasks currently done by human employees. Moderna's Stéphane Bancel, meanwhile, believes the company will not need more than "a few thousand employees," thanks to the growing availability of powerful AI tools.

Recent research suggests that workers are taking these warnings seriously. According to a May 2025 study by PYMNTS Intelligence, 54 percent of US workers believe generative AI poses a significant risk to their jobs, with the most educated and tech-savvy individuals expressing the highest level of concern.

One notable exception to this growing list of AI doomsday prophets is Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He dismissed predictions of large-scale job displacement as "overly alarmist" and pushed back on Dario Amodei's warnings. Huang has advocated for transparent and collaborative AI development as a way to mitigate potential risks.

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Farley is a total waste of space. Just another CEO looking for the next big thing to transform the industry.
Only problem is the is a total follower of trends. He and his immediate predecessor took a productive, well run company and started chasing trends and fads throwing every resource the company has at it. Service support is a joke, abandoned the car business except for one car (Mustang), and that's built now off of an SUV chassis. Reorganized the entire company around EV's and abandoned the ICE division, all while losing about $40k on every EV sold. In the meantime, still trying to pair down the ICE vehicles that make all of the money for the company. Jumped in with both feet again with DEI, which lasted until the public had enough. Then, he was one of the first companies to abandon DEI, since it fell out of favor. The entire time the stock price has flatlined, which is probably the best outcome from sticking your finger in the air to figure out which way the wind is blowing.

This is the LAST person I'd ask about ANYTHING, especially AI. Which he'll embrace 100% just to ride the wave.
 
Farley is a total waste of space. Just another CEO looking for the next big thing to transform the industry.
Only problem is the is a total follower of trends. He and his immediate predecessor took a productive, well run company and started chasing trends and fads throwing every resource the company has at it. Service support is a joke, abandoned the car business except for one car (Mustang), and that's built now off of an SUV chassis. Reorganized the entire company around EV's and abandoned the ICE division, all while losing about $40k on every EV sold. In the meantime, still trying to pair down the ICE vehicles that make all of the money for the company. Jumped in with both feet again with DEI, which lasted until the public had enough. Then, he was one of the first companies to abandon DEI, since it fell out of favor. The entire time the stock price has flatlined, which is probably the best outcome from sticking your finger in the air to figure out which way the wind is blowing.

This is the LAST person I'd ask about ANYTHING, especially AI. Which he'll embrace 100% just to ride the wave.
Lots of copium in this rant.

It doesn't matter if the Ford CEO is an expert on this or not because he's far from the only one saying this. It's not sudo-science, AI is going to replace a lot of jobs and the rate at which it happens will only go in one direction.

This is a sentiment held by virtually all of the experts involved, from tech and business CEOs to AI research scientists. It's not the conspiracy nuts saying this, it's the people who know what they're talking about.
 
Farley is a total waste of space. Just another CEO looking for the next big thing to transform the industry.
Only problem is the is a total follower of trends. He and his immediate predecessor took a productive, well run company and started chasing trends and fads throwing every resource the company has at it. Service support is a joke, abandoned the car business except for one car (Mustang), and that's built now off of an SUV chassis. Reorganized the entire company around EV's and abandoned the ICE division, all while losing about $40k on every EV sold. In the meantime, still trying to pair down the ICE vehicles that make all of the money for the company. Jumped in with both feet again with DEI, which lasted until the public had enough. Then, he was one of the first companies to abandon DEI, since it fell out of favor. The entire time the stock price has flatlined, which is probably the best outcome from sticking your finger in the air to figure out which way the wind is blowing.

This is the LAST person I'd ask about ANYTHING, especially AI. Which he'll embrace 100% just to ride the wave.
LOL, DEI isn't really what you have been told it is by the MAGAs. I worked in IT for 30 years. I remember when it was only white men. Then when the DEI programs started rolling in, the white women came first, then actual diversity finally set in.

What really matters is if you think it needs to be all white men again, or not? No BS with the "I'd rather have the most qualified person in the role." That's not reality. That's bigotry.
 
Most of whitecollar jobs are just HR and middle managers which can easily be replaced by AI. I, for one, welcome this change. M$ just fired a bunch of middle managers and HR people from XBOX, people thought twitter was going to fail when Musk fired 90% of the staff. I am 100% for this change. We don't need focus groups and HR middle managers. At my company we have an HR head, 7 HR managers of various ranks and titles and 12 HR reps. I work for a construction company, do you know how many times I've spoken to HR about swearing on the job? I'm also on of few people who can work specifically with the type of concrete I work with and they aren't going to find someone with the combination of certifications that our insurance wants to cover us. So many times I've called the HR reps ****ing retards, been told I need to go to sensitivity train, told them to **** off and been "written up". On time, to make a point, I went to a week of HR ordered sensitivity training, the jobsite was shut down. Now I just get a call from one of the executives every time someone reports me to HR
 
LOL, DEI isn't really what you have been told it is by the MAGAs. I worked in IT for 30 years. I remember when it was only white men. Then when the DEI programs started rolling in, the white women came first, then actual diversity finally set in.

What really matters is if you think it needs to be all white men again, or not? No BS with the "I'd rather have the most qualified person in the role." That's not reality. That's bigotry.

As usual on here, as I said on another thread, the WCCF trolls are infecting here badly. I don't recall taking a position on any trend Farley took. I only pointed out what he ACTUALLY did. If you're on the belief side of DEI as an institution and hard and fast rule for society, than you should be upset with HIM, not me. I didn't cancel it at Ford. If you're against DEI as a way to allow unqualified people access to jobs beyond their ability to perform, than you'd dislike when he put it in place, and then pat him on the back for getting rid of it.

I only stated that he has no belief system and is a total follower on just about every decision he made at Ford, and as a result, through both sales and stock prices the company has stagnated.

Leave it to the last three posters to read what they want in it and comment accordingly. I can also assume from your reactions that you believe in how Farley runs Ford, and is a worthwhile lead for this article.

Or, is it that since you either agree 100% on his AI stance or his executive decisions on EV's, ICE, DEI or other decisions that he's been on both sides of the fence on, he is now a recognized leader of a major organization who's words should be valued.

Stick to the point I made about him as an authority, and save you political and personal opinions about others for WCCF, and other political rags.

As for AI wiping out half of white collar jobs, that remains to be seen. If I knew which way it would go, I would not be reading articles on the subject. Objectively, it's a lot like the fusion energy bet, it's not a fake, it is real, but so far, it's not doing everything it's been billed as. The real question is, is it 3 years, or 300 years until the substance lives up to the hype. As for CEO's, how may of them that point blank stated that this future is at least 50 years off would still be working or the companies they run have their stock price drop like a rock. Just like blockchain before it, I don't think there is a company that exsists today that isn't chasing AI. And in this climate, they'd be fools not to., That's not a guarntee.
 
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Farley is a total waste of space. Just another CEO looking for the next big thing to transform the industry.
Only problem is the is a total follower of trends. He and his immediate predecessor took a productive, well run company and started chasing trends and fads throwing every resource the company has at it. Service support is a joke, abandoned the car business except for one car (Mustang), and that's built now off of an SUV chassis. Reorganized the entire company around EV's and abandoned the ICE division, all while losing about $40k on every EV sold. In the meantime, still trying to pair down the ICE vehicles that make all of the money for the company. Jumped in with both feet again with DEI, which lasted until the public had enough. Then, he was one of the first companies to abandon DEI, since it fell out of favor. The entire time the stock price has flatlined, which is probably the best outcome from sticking your finger in the air to figure out which way the wind is blowing.

My dad sold Ford's from the early 60's, until 1999 when he retired. He passed in 2020, but something he said holds true. The problem with Ford (and most of the U.S. based car industry) is they are NOT run by "car guys". I bet most of these car CEO have NEVER driven one of their own vehicles. They all ride in "limos". Only thing they concern themselves about is the STOCK PRICE.
 
I retired from Ford Product Development in 2004 when Jacques Nasser was CEO. I was working in the Test Inst. Calibration Lab, and walked in one day seeing a few workmates huddled around my computer. I noticed that there was a ruler balanced on a rubber at one end, and the Enter key at the other, and realising something was afoot, I rushed forward, but was alas, too late. The buggers had emailed Jacques Nasser from my account with the most ridiculously over the top gushing message just short of saying I wanted to have his babies. Nothing happened until Jacques' next newsletter in which he said how touched he had been with a message of support (from me). I'm thinking he was not entirely in touch with reality, because it was so obviously a piss take, but I was just happy not getting into trouble. I've just checked and the person who pranked me is still there and a manager. I dare not name him, but his LinkedIn profile has him standing next to a red GT40.
 
Someone who used to work at Ford once told me that, “Ford is a financial company that happens to make cars.”

Never mind that Farley is a waste of space…He’ll be the first to jump at the opportunity to replace people with AI. As long as his job is safe, he won’t care.

As a white collar middle manager myself, I see a lot of positives in having AI at the workplace. It makes my job easier in many ways and makes my team more productive.

I know that a lot of hardworking people will be affected negatively by AI adoption. And those who celebrate other people’s losing their livelihood are bitter losers who should know better.
 
Most of whitecollar jobs are just HR and middle managers which can easily be replaced by AI. I, for one, welcome this change. M$ just fired a bunch of middle managers and HR people from XBOX, people thought twitter was going to fail when Musk fired 90% of the staff. I am 100% for this change. We don't need focus groups and HR middle managers. At my company we have an HR head, 7 HR managers of various ranks and titles and 12 HR reps. I work for a construction company, do you know how many times I've spoken to HR about swearing on the job? I'm also on of few people who can work specifically with the type of concrete I work with and they aren't going to find someone with the combination of certifications that our insurance wants to cover us. So many times I've called the HR reps ****ing retards, been told I need to go to sensitivity train, told them to **** off and been "written up". On time, to make a point, I went to a week of HR ordered sensitivity training, the jobsite was shut down. Now I just get a call from one of the executives every time someone reports me to HR
Most white-collar jobs are not HR. HR happens to be the white-collar folks that you interact with the most. The sales people getting you those contracts, the lawyers making sure the paperwork makes sense, the HR folks managing your benefits, the accountants processing your paystub, etc. are all white collar. And, just like you, they work hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their families’ heads.

I can relate to your disdain for a certain department, and there can be too much corporate bureaucracy. But I’m not sure dealing with an AI HR rep will be more pleasant.

At my workplace, AI is allowing people to be more productive, speeding up a lot of the mundane, time-consuming tasks. Hopefully, it does the same for your coworkers.
 
Most of whitecollar jobs are just HR and middle managers which can easily be replaced by AI. I, for one, welcome this change. M$ just fired a bunch of middle managers and HR people from XBOX, people thought twitter was going to fail when Musk fired 90% of the staff. I am 100% for this change. We don't need focus groups and HR middle managers. At my company we have an HR head, 7 HR managers of various ranks and titles and 12 HR reps. I work for a construction company, do you know how many times I've spoken to HR about swearing on the job? I'm also on of few people who can work specifically with the type of concrete I work with and they aren't going to find someone with the combination of certifications that our insurance wants to cover us. So many times I've called the HR reps ****ing retards, been told I need to go to sensitivity train, told them to **** off and been "written up". On time, to make a point, I went to a week of HR ordered sensitivity training, the jobsite was shut down. Now I just get a call from one of the executives every time someone reports me to HR

Doesn’t that just kinda make you a jerk? Like, I don’t know you personally and some colorful language is to be expected on a job site, regardless of the field in question. Dressing people down like that though? That’s another story, that just sounds like verbal abuse and that isn’t cool. I’ve worked under people like that. Sure, you are clearly necessary if you not being there shuts down a job site but it’s taking advantage of that importance to bully others. I’m not really a snowflake, I’m sarcastic and I’ve referred to myself as an equal opportunity a**hole but that’s with friends. Don’t be that guy. Or just ignore me because I’m some rando on the internet that doesn’t know you personally. That works too. Whichever floats your boat!
 
Doesn’t that just kinda make you a jerk? Like, I don’t know you personally and some colorful language is to be expected on a job site, regardless of the field in question. Dressing people down like that though? That’s another story, that just sounds like verbal abuse and that isn’t cool. I’ve worked under people like that. Sure, you are clearly necessary if you not being there shuts down a job site but it’s taking advantage of that importance to bully others. I’m not really a snowflake, I’m sarcastic and I’ve referred to myself as an equal opportunity a**hole but that’s with friends. Don’t be that guy. Or just ignore me because I’m some rando on the internet that doesn’t know you personally. That works too. Whichever floats your boat!
I'm a total *******, I don't put up with anyone's ****, but I will build you a bridge or a sky scraper. It's why I get calls from the executives instead of HR for swearing now. It kinda goes like this

"you can't say that"
"do you want the job done?"
"yes"
"well shut up and let me work"

and I'm not exaggerating when I say I have 30 other companies that want me.
Most white-collar jobs are not HR. HR happens to be the white-collar folks that you interact with the most. The sales people getting you those contracts, the lawyers making sure the paperwork makes sense, the HR folks managing your benefits, the accountants processing your paystub, etc. are all white collar. And, just like you, they work hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their families’ heads.

I can relate to your disdain for a certain department, and there can be too much corporate bureaucracy. But I’m not sure dealing with an AI HR rep will be more pleasant.

At my workplace, AI is allowing people to be more productive, speeding up a lot of the mundane, time-consuming tasks. Hopefully, it does the same for your coworkers.
no, but most white collar jobs are middle management which contribute nothing but misery for everyone else
 
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