While there’s no evidence linking AI to mass layoffs, the tech has already ‘changed worker psychology’

When artificial intelligence researcher Mrinank Sharma quit his job at Anthropic earlier this year, the news rippled across the internet. In his resignation letter, posted on X and viewed 15.3m times, Sharma warned of a world “in peril” from the technology he had helped build.

“It is clear to me the time has come to move on,” he wrote. His next move: a poetry degree.

In the months following Sharma’s resignation, AI industry defectors and workers outside of Silicon Valley alike have echoed his sentiments.

Bracing for disruption forecasted by the AI industry, white-collar professionals are voluntarily leaving established careers to pursue professions they feel are more secure or more aligned with their values. Workers across industries – from tech to public relations to consulting – say AI changed the substance and stability of their jobs overnight. They worry about AI jeopardizing their cognitive abilities, contributing to climate change, undermining value to customers and compromising security. Some, like Sharma, have left their fields entirely, shifting to vastly different careers.

So far, economic data shows that AI has not wreaked havoc on the workforce. It’s created about 1m US jobs, compared with 200,000 layoffs attributed to AI, according to the Economist . But as AI executives continue to warn of disruption, 71% of Americans believe the technology will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years, according to the Pew Research Center .

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