Beneath the biting cold and tight security in Davos, Switzerland, the most repeated phrase around artificial intelligence this year was simple and upbeat: jobs, jobs, jobs. Political tensions and lingering doubts about automation did little to blunt the insistence from executives and officials that AI will be a net creator of work rather than a destroyer. The optimism marked a sharp turn from earlier years, when the same mountain town echoed with warnings about mass layoffs and social unrest.
Instead of dwelling on dystopian scenarios, leaders framed AI as an engine for productivity, new industries and higher quality work, even as they acknowledged that some roles will disappear and others will be reshaped. The tension between that confident narrative and the unease among workers, unions and some economists ran through the week, revealing a more complicated story than the slogans suggest.
The Davos pivot: from fear to hiring pitch
In Davos, Switzerland, the official conversation around AI has shifted from existential risk to employment strategy, with senior figures repeating that the technology will generate more positions than it erases. Delegates described how companies are already using AI to open new lines of business, from automated customer service to predictive maintenance, and argued that these expansions will require fresh waves of hiring in engineering, data analysis and support roles. That upbeat tone persisted even as the Alpine town dealt with biting cold and power disruptions, a reminder that the physical world remains stubbornly analog despite the digital rhetoric swirling around Jobs.
Executives repeatedly stressed that they were investing in AI to grow, not simply to cut costs, and some insisted that any headcount reductions were limited to underperforming units that were planning layoffs anyway. In public sessions and private meetings, they framed AI as a tool to augment staff rather than replace them, arguing that automation of routine tasks would free people to focus on higher value work. That message was amplified across the Promenade, where banners and side events promoted AI as a catalyst for new employment in sectors ranging from healthcare to logistics, even as the same technology fuels anxiety about redundancy in Davos.
AI as growth engine: ROI, agentic systems and new roles
Behind the rhetoric about employment, a more technical shift is underway as companies move from experimenting with AI to demanding measurable returns on investment. Earlier hype cycles focused on potential, but this year the emphasis was on performance, with leaders talking about the shift to ROI and so-called agentic AI that can take actions on behalf of users rather than just generate text or images. That evolution, described by practitioners as a move from proof-of-concept pilots to production systems, is already changing the mix of skills employers seek, from prompt engineering to systems integration and governance around Agentic AI.
As AI tools become more autonomous, companies are reorganizing teams to capture value, pairing software agents with human supervisors and creating roles focused on oversight, safety and compliance. That is where many of the promised jobs are expected to materialize, in the form of AI operations managers, data stewards and domain experts who can translate business needs into machine-readable instructions. The shift from potential to performance also demands stronger data foundations and cross-border collaboration, themes that resonated in sessions that linked AI deployment to broader strategies for productivity and competitiveness in From Potential.
Corporate assurances meet worker and union skepticism
For all the confident talk from boardrooms, anxiety about jobs has not vanished, particularly among workers who feel they have little influence over how AI is introduced into their workplaces. Part of the reason that unease persists, despite repeated assurances, is that many employees only learn about automation plans once tools are already being rolled out, often without meaningful consultation or retraining pathways. Labor representatives argue that this top-down approach fuels distrust and makes it harder to accept management claims that AI will improve rather than erode job quality, a concern captured in reporting that highlights how Part of the workforce feels sidelined.
Union officials and worker advocates in Davos pointed to sectors like call centers, retail and basic administrative services, where AI tools are already handling tasks that once justified full-time roles. They warned that even if new positions emerge elsewhere, the transition will be painful for those whose skills are devalued, especially in regions without strong social safety nets or retraining programs. Their skepticism was echoed in side analyses that described how the job creation mantra at Davos meets underlying doubts among both CEOs and unions, with some executives privately conceding that they still expect headcount reductions in certain functions despite public optimism about EXECUTIVE messaging.
Data-driven optimism and the Future of Jobs lens
Supporters of the AI employment narrative leaned heavily on data-driven arguments, pointing to market analyses that frame automation as a catalyst for productivity and export growth. One detailed assessment of AI’s impact on trade and industry performance, structured around an introduction, executive summary and sections on imports and exports, argued that companies using AI to make data-driven decisions are better positioned to grow their business and expand into new markets. That logic underpins the claim that AI will ultimately support more jobs, not fewer, by boosting competitiveness and enabling firms to scale, a view reflected in guidance that urges leaders to focus on Making Data.
At the same time, the World Economic Forum’s own work on employment trends injects a note of caution. Its Future of Jobs analysis, which invites readers to visit the World Economic Forum website for deeper insights into how AI is reshaping tasks and roles, has consistently found that while technology creates new categories of work, it also accelerates the decline of others. That duality was present in Davos discussions that balanced enthusiasm for new AI-enabled professions with concern about mid-skill roles at risk of automation, a tension underscored by references to the need to Visit the World for granular projections.
Power outages, political chill and the limits of the mantra
The setting for this year’s AI debate was anything but smooth, with biting cold, power outages and geopolitical frictions shaping the mood in Davos. Sessions on artificial intelligence occasionally had to contend with technical glitches and energy concerns, a reminder that the infrastructure underpinning digital transformation is itself vulnerable. Yet those disruptions did little to slow the promotional drumbeat around AI as a source of employment, with panelists returning again and again to the promise of new roles in software development, cybersecurity and AI deployment, even as some attendees worried about the resilience of the systems that support Job Loss Fear.
Political tensions also hovered in the background, influencing how different delegations framed AI’s impact on their domestic labor markets. Some officials emphasized national strategies to attract AI investment and talent, while others focused on guardrails to protect vulnerable workers from abrupt displacement. The contrast between the polished optimism on stage and the more guarded conversations in corridors was captured in reports that described how job loss fears had been pushed into the back seat, even if they had not disappeared entirely, with the phrase jobs, jobs, jobs repeated as both reassurance and rallying cry in Davos.
