Mo Gawdat, the former chief business officer of Google X, has delivered a sobering forecast on the future of work in an AI-driven world: No profession, no matter how elite or creative, is safe from artificial intelligence.
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, published by BI, Gawdat warned that the pace of AI development is being underestimated, and that a complete reordering of the job market is on the horizon. He said we are rapidly approaching what he calls the era of “machine mastery” — a phase where artificial intelligence will not just assist humans but perform entire roles autonomously, across industries.
“AGI is going to get better at everything than humans — at everything, including being a CEO,” Gawdat said. “Even podcasters will be replaced.”
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Gawdat cited his own startup, Emma.love, which builds emotionally intelligent AI systems for relationships. The company runs on a team of just three people — a job that would have required over 300 developers only a few years ago. It’s a microcosm, he said, of what’s already unfolding: massive labor reduction powered by increasingly capable AI systems.
He described the current moment as a transitional phase — what he calls the “era of augmented intelligence,” where AI still works alongside humans. But that partnership is temporary, he warned. Soon, machines will run the show.
A Dystopia by 2027?
Gawdat predicted a “short-term dystopia” beginning around 2027, with mass unemployment, economic instability, and social unrest, triggered by the replacement of knowledge workers. He argues that most institutions deploying AI today are driven by profit and ego, not ethical design or human-centered thinking.
“Unless you’re in the top 0.1%, you’re a peasant,” he said. “There is no middle class.”
His solution? A complete societal reset — one where AI enables a world of equality, free healthcare, jobless leisure, and human connection.
“We were never made to wake up every morning and just occupy 20 hours of our day with work,” he said. “That’s a capitalist lie.”
This is not Gawdat’s first warning. In a 2023 episode of the same podcast, he called AI a global emergency — “bigger than climate change.” At the time, he advocated for a 98% tax on AI-powered businesses to slow down deployment and fund support systems for displaced workers.
“The likelihood of something incredibly disruptive happening within the next two years that can affect the entire planet is definitely larger with AI than it is with climate change,” he said.
Industry Divided Over the Threat
While Gawdat’s message is blunt, he’s not the one preaching it. Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called “godfather of AI,” has warned that machines will eventually replace everyone doing “mundane intellectual labor.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also predicted that half of all entry-level white-collar jobs will disappear within five years.
But many in the industry are not convinced.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has pushed back, arguing that AI will reshape work, not eliminate it — and that learning how to prompt and harness AI is a “highly cognitive skill.” He described AI as the “greatest technology equalizer” that can expand opportunity, not destroy it.
Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, is even more skeptical of the doomsday scenarios. He said he “pretty much disagrees with everything Dario says,” and maintains that humans will remain in control of future AI systems.
A Microsoft study released in July found that generative AI tools, including chatbots, are most effective in assisting tasks such as research and communication, not replacing entire professions outright.
The conversation around AI’s impact is no longer theoretical. Companies like Emma.love are showing how entire departments can be replaced by small, AI-powered teams. Meanwhile, the divergence in expert opinion underscores the uncertainty over whether humanity is heading toward collapse or renaissance.
Gawdat’s core message is that AI’s trajectory is not inherently destructive, but the way we build and deploy it will determine whether it liberates or devastates society.
“But the truth is it could be the best world ever,” he said. “The society completely full of laughter and joy. Free healthcare, no jobs, spending more time with their loved ones. A world where all of us are equal.”