The CEO of Anthropic sounds the alarm: the rapid rise of AI threatens our society

At the beginning of 2026, artificial intelligence (AI) establishes itself as an unavoidable phenomenon, profoundly reshaping our lifestyles, professional practices, and daily interactions. In this context, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, one of the major players in this technological revolution, sounds a real alarm bell facing a rapid expansion of AI that today threatens the very fabric of our societies. While more than 44% of French people now regularly use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, this massive adoption also hides significant risks, notably in terms of employment, ethics, and social stability.

Anthropic, a flagship company in the AI field with its Claude system, a serious competitor against giants like OpenAI and Google DeepMind, sees its CEO position himself as a prophet of an era where automation, driven by increasingly autonomous and sophisticated technologies, risks eliminating entire sectors of jobs, especially among young professionals and entry-level white-collar workers. This fear is not isolated: several international reports warn of imminent mass unemployment, with alarming quantified projections on the share of tasks and jobs that could be automated in the very short term.

Through factual insight and analyses from recent research, this detailed dossier explores the foundations of the concern expressed by Dario Amodei. It embarks on a deep reflection on the societal, economic, and ethical impact of the rapid rise of AI, while scrutinizing adaptation possibilities and scenarios considered to preserve social balance in the face of this technological revolution underway.

Alarmist announcements from Anthropic’s CEO on the impact of artificial intelligence on employment

Since the launch of the generative AI era in 2022, leaders of major companies in the sector have gradually become aware of the profound consequences this technology could bring. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, is among those voices which, while carrying innovation, continuously sound the alarm on the devastating impact that this emancipation of AI could have on the labor market.

At the heart of his concerns lies the fear of a “great replacement” of human workers, particularly those occupying junior white-collar positions. According to his predictions for 2026, AI could in the short term replace up to half of entry-level jobs in intellectual and administrative sectors. This outlook is corroborated by key studies, such as the McKinsey report which estimates that 30% of hours worked in developed economies are likely to be automated by 2030.

Amodei also points out that 60 to 70% of current jobs contain at least 30% of tasks automatable via advanced language models. This data shifts the debate from full replacement to a more subtle but equally problematic transformation: even if a job does not disappear entirely, the tasks composing it can largely be delegated to AIs, drastically reducing the share of human labor required.

To give a concrete example, writing, data analysis, customer support, and even some programming codes – traditionally considered essential human tasks – are now rapidly automating thanks to advances made by AIs like Claude from Anthropic. This results in a questioning of hiring opportunities, especially for young professionals with little experience, who find themselves marginalized in the labor market.

Dario Amodei explains that the dynamic is relentless and exponential: “I think we are beginning to see the very first signs, notably in software development, and this will only amplify in the coming years.” This evolution raises significant questions about society’s ability to support this transition, as well as the ethical responsibilities of companies developing these technologies.

Figures that raise questions in the tech sector

Data from research conducted notably by Stanford and MIT universities reveal that up to 40% of tasks performed by young white-collar workers could be automated as of today. This finding strongly impacts the sectors of writing, basic programming, or support, leading to accelerated productivity gains but at the cost of a significant reduction in junior staffing needs.

A GitHub report points out, for example, that AI-assisted developers code 30 to 55% faster, which causes a drop in hiring within these profiles. Furthermore, writing or customer support tasks benefit from productivity improvements reaching up to 70%. These figures confirm the trend highlighted by Amodei, giving shape to the idea of a profound mutation of the employment market, marked by the rise of autonomous and intelligent systems.

However, this widespread automation also leads to considering adaptation scenarios: some leaders, like Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, remain optimistic. Hassabis speaks of creating new “more meaningful” jobs and suggests that the democratization of AI tools could compensate for the reduction in internship and hiring opportunities for beginners.

Despite this measured optimism from major tech groups, the central question remains that of the immediate social impact, in a context where unemployment is already structurally high in many countries. The fear expressed by Amodei that adaptation will not keep pace with AI’s rapid evolution casts a worrying tension over the economic future of millions of workers.

The first visible effects of AI on artificial intelligence research and development

Paradoxically, artificial intelligence itself is beginning to profoundly transform its own research domain. At the 2025 Davos summit, Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis shared observations that seem almost dystopian: the first signs of replacement of junior AI researchers are already palpable.

This surprising information is thought-provoking. Usually seen as the innovators of tomorrow, these young researchers see their role diminish as high-performance AIs take over a growing share of intellectual, analytical, and even creative tasks. Tasks such as modeling, testing, basic scientific writing, and even programming are now autonomously assisted by AI algorithms. This phenomenon leads to a reduction in hiring at these levels, sharply illustrating the speed and depth of the induced change.

Dario Amodei stresses that this shift to a smaller workforce of young talent is not a distant consequence but a reality already observable within Anthropic itself. The company notes internally that it gradually needs less auxiliary personnel in favor of growing capacities of its AI models.

Let’s illustrate with a concrete example: previously, interns and juniors in an AI research lab performed time-consuming and repetitive tasks such as data collection, unit testing, or simple error correction. Today, these missions are automated and supervised by intelligent AIs, thus freeing senior researchers for higher value-added work.

While this example may appear positive from an efficiency standpoint, it nevertheless raises a major issue of training and professional integration for the new generation. How to prepare future researchers when the pool of accessible experience shrinks from direct contact with work? This question fits into a broader debate on how education, industry, and public policies must evolve to respond to these mutations.

The transformation of roles and the rise of autonomous AIs

This transitional phase in research illustrates a qualitative change: AIs are no longer mere aid tools but become autonomous teammates capable of performing complete development cycles.

Beyond basic automation, advanced systems begin to generate new hypotheses, validate complex models, and optimize algorithms, relegating human intervention to editorial and strategic supervision. According to Dario Amodei, this could mean that within the next 12 months, a majority of tasks currently handled by software engineers will be fully automatable, radically changing the traditional work model in this sector.

This rapid progression illustrates a paradox: the technology that was supposed to create more qualified jobs is turning into a factor of workforce reduction, thus fundamentally questioning the human role in the technological and scientific value chain.

Ethical risks linked to the rapid emergence of autonomous artificial intelligence

Beyond economic implications, the rapid rise of AI raises important ethical questions that society cannot ignore. Anthropic’s CEO is one of the few leaders to emphasize the urgent need for structured debates to address these issues.

The arrival of increasingly autonomous AI systems, capable of making decisions without constant human supervision, introduces uncertainty regarding responsibilities, biases, and potential abuses. One major risk lies in the loss of human control over increasingly complex tools, with possible consequences on social, political, and security levels.

A recent example is the global cyberattack during which an automated AI named Claude (developed by Anthropic) was used to infiltrate several computer systems with minimal human intervention. This event reminds us that artificial intelligence, if badly regulated, can become a dangerous weapon capable of destabilizing critical infrastructure on a global scale.

The ethical question also extends to employment, with a crucial dilemma: how to support affected populations without worsening inequalities, without further fracturing an already tense society? Redistribution mechanisms, training policies, and the establishment of a legal and ethical framework become essential to ensure responsible evolution.

Dario Amodei advocates for strengthened collaboration between governments, companies, and civil society to establish binding ethical standards, preventing economic interests from overriding collective well-being. This ethical battle remains a fundamental challenge to preserve democracy and social cohesion in the face of technology.

The rapid rise of AI in France: massive adoption and societal challenges

France today ranks among the nations most advanced in adopting generative AI technologies. According to a recent Microsoft study, about 44% of French people use tools like ChatGPT daily or regularly, demonstrating deep integration into millions of citizens’ lives. This growing osmosis raises questions as much economic as cultural and social.

The massive use of artificial intelligence changes how individuals work, get informed, create, and communicate. This fast digital revolution also generates worrying technological dependence, a phenomenon some experts already call digital addiction. The issue is all the more crucial since a large part of the active population, notably young people, envisions professions likely to be automated.

Faced with this mutation, the French educational system is called upon to rethink its methods and contents to integrate digital skills and AI ethics. Moreover, national regulation is continuously evolving to frame usages, protect personal data, and avoid excesses.

On the economic level, these technological transformations contribute to the growth of innovative sectors but also deepen the gap between highly qualified profiles and those exposed to unemployment risk. Special attention should therefore be paid to lifelong training and professional reconversion to preserve social cohesion.

Table of sectoral impacts forecast in France by 2030

Sector	Share of automatable tasks (%)	Potentially impacted jobs	Main risks
Administrative services	65%	1.2 million	Loss of junior jobs, decrease in internships
IT and development	55%	700,000	Automation of basic coding, reduction in beginner hiring
Health and research	30%	350,000	Transformation of support tasks, reduction of junior researchers
Customer service	70%	900,000	Substitution by AI chatbots and virtual assistants

Adaptation scenarios to the upheaval of the world of work by AI

While alarmist predictions about the disappearance of millions of jobs multiply, various scenarios emerge to envision adaptation to this new paradigm. Among these hypotheses, some concern the transformation of work rhythms and forms. For example, Elon Musk envisions a future where work becomes totally optional, reducing workdays to simple activities chosen for pleasure or passion, with a universal income guaranteeing income without conditions.

Bill Gates, for his part, proposes another vision: rather than the complete disappearance of work, he imagines a substantial reduction in working hours, suggesting that employees could eventually be content working only two days a week thanks to AI tools.

These perspectives offer an overview of possible paths to manage the transition toward a transformed labor market. However, they require bold public policies, social innovations, and a profound reform of social protection systems to prevent social fractures from widening further with the rise of technological unemployment.

A third path mentioned by several experts highlights the importance of ongoing training and professional retraining. Faced with automation, investing in human capital is considered essential to equip workers for emerging new jobs, especially those requiring skills in AI management, technological ethics, and creativity.

• Implementation of professional training programs adapted to new technologies.
• Development of creative sectors and human innovation complementary to AI.
• Promotion of social policies guaranteeing a minimum income and easy access to training.
• Encouragement of collaboration between humans and AI in professional environments.
• Ongoing dialogue between companies, governments, and civil society on the evolution of work.

The responsibility of tech leaders in the face of rapid AI evolution

As AI development accelerates, the responsibility of business leaders like those at Anthropic becomes crucial. By sounding the alarm, Dario Amodei highlights the importance of strengthened ethical commitment.

Large tech companies must integrate this dimension into their strategies, not only to anticipate economic risks but also to preserve social stability and public trust. This involves establishing transparent audit mechanisms, checking algorithmic biases, and respecting fundamental human rights.

Under Amodei’s leadership, Anthropic notably strives to develop responsible artificial intelligence, taking care to establish safeguards that limit risks of malicious use, while promoting beneficial applications, notably in the health and research sectors.

Beyond technical aspects, the ethical dimension also concerns communication and international cooperation. The CEO insists on the need for a harmonized global regulatory framework to avoid a frenzied race for power benefiting only the most powerful players, to the detriment of the most vulnerable populations.

This awareness from Anthropic’s CEO and other leaders marks a turning point in the industry: the search for a balance between rapid technological growth and societal responsibility.

Social challenges in the era of widespread artificial intelligence

Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence goes far beyond the economic sphere to touch the very heart of social relations. The scope of AI’s impact on society demands broad reflection on human, cultural, and political consequences.

Risks of exclusion, marginalization, and social fractures are exacerbated by the rapidity of the transformation. Young professionals, low-skilled populations, but also certain geographical regions, could become the main victims of this technological tsunami.

Moreover, growing dependence on digital tools raises concerns about the loss of essential skills, the reduction of authentic social interactions, and a form of addiction to intelligent technologies. The latter is already observed in some environments, where intensive AI use profoundly modifies individual and collective behaviors.

Ethical issues intertwine with the possibility of political or ideological instrumentalization of these tools, which could amplify misinformation, reinforce discriminatory biases, or exacerbate societal tensions.

To address these challenges, it becomes essential to integrate ethical education at all levels, promote inclusive governance, and encourage ongoing dialogue between developers, users, and policymakers.

Future perspectives according to Anthropic’s CEO and AI experts

Dario Amodei offers a hard-nosed vision where the adaptation time is limited: the exponential development of AI will outpace society’s ability to manage the transition. Within a 1 to 5 year horizon, he warns that social consequences could be profound, especially if no ambitious policy is implemented to support transformations.

However, experts propose alternative perspectives that combine innovation, responsibility, and humanism. They emphasize the urgent need to reinvent economic and social models, with a strengthened human role in technological governance.

The table below summarizes the main scenarios envisaged for the near future:

Scenario	Description	Advantages	Risks
Optional work (Elon Musk)	Universal income, work reduced to personal choice, leisure valued	Time liberation, improved quality of life	Issues of self-motivation, risks of social isolation
Work time reduction (Bill Gates)	Part-time work with AI support, maintenance of active employment	Better quality of life, gradual adaptation	Challenges of equity and resource distribution
Continuous training and reconversion	Massive investment in education and professional retraining	Skills reinforcement, creation of new jobs	Dependency on training and pressure on social systems

Frequently asked questions about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and its societal impacts

What is the main danger raised by Anthropic’s CEO concerning AI?

Dario Amodei warns of imminent massive unemployment, especially among young entry-level professionals, due to the rapid and widespread automation of intellectual tasks by AI.

Will artificial intelligence really replace all jobs?

No, AI tends rather to automate a significant portion of tasks composing jobs, especially for junior positions, but new jobs will probably emerge, notably in management, supervision, and ethics of AI systems.

How can society adapt to this technological transformation?

Through bold public policies, continuous training, creation of new jobs complementary to AI, and the establishment of an ethical regulatory framework ensuring a just and responsible transition.

What are the main ethical risks linked to the rise of AI?

The loss of human control over autonomous systems, algorithmic biases, AI-amplified cybercrime, as well as increased social inequalities due to job disappearance.

What practices do companies encourage for ethical AI development?

Companies like Anthropic promote transparency, regular algorithm audits, bias correction, and international cooperation for strengthened legal frameworks.