You may have felt it.
A strange, low-level panic in the background. You will notice it in your conversations with your friends and colleagues.
Every week there’s another post about AI taking your job. Another CEO interview. Another dismissal title. Another chart that screams: No one is safe.
And if you are a knowledge worker, it has a different effect. Because you can really imagine it.
But here’s what I think is really going on.
AI will not disrupt the economy.
Here to restore the leverage that companies have.
Let me explain. First, a little background.
The balance of power has shifted over the past decade
After the financial crisis of 2008/2009, jobs were scarce. Much wealth was destroyed. That era taught people to think: be grateful that you even have a job.
Then the world began to change slowly. More growth, more opportunities.
In the 2010s, the labor market tightened every year. Unemployment has steadily declinedand by 2022, it will be at its lowest level in decades.
And what happens when workers feel confident?
They left more. They negotiate harder. They require flexibility. They stop tolerating bad managers.
“The Great Resignation” was not a meme. Exit rates rose and remained high. Even the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) wrote a whole analysis about it.
Power has shifted from the employer to the employee.
That’s what the 2021-2022 season of “betraying the employer” looks like.
This is exactly what businesses are always trying to avoid in the long run.
Then ChatGPT comes along at the perfect time
At the end of 2022, ChatGPT was released. And this started a new era.
The first people said: “This is a tool.”
Then, “It comes for simple tasks.”
Now in 2026, the message is: “No one is safe.”
This is not just an opinion. See the data. Workplaces have become very cold. In December 2025, US jobs declined by approx 6.5 mlnThe lowest since 2020.
Wage pressures are also cooling. The employment cost index and wage growth have slowed until the end of 2025, which is exactly what employers and central banks want as they try to tame inflation.
So the “overheated job market” narrative is now officially true.
And everyone knows it.
Conspiracy Theory (and the Boring Truth)
There’s a theory that corporations have timed AI to discipline workers.
I don’t buy the “hang out in the boardroom” version. All the CEOs got together and said, “Let’s use artificial intelligence to scare our workers!” It’s hard to believe what they say.
But I will buy the incentive version.
When workers have too much leverage, systems are pushed back. Sometimes it’s stagnation. Sometimes it’s offshoring. Sometimes it’s a new management book. Sometimes it’s technology.
There is even a phrase for this in political economy called labor discipline.
The idea is simple. High labor force squeezes profits, so capital looks for ways to regain control and reduce labor costs.
It is debatable whether the AI was released for this purpose or was simply useful for this purpose.
But the result is the same.
Fear is back in the building!
Fear is an essential part of capitalism
Let’s be completely honest. Why do most people work so hard?
Not because they love spreadsheets.
Because there are carrots and sticks.
Carrot is money, status, comfort.
Stick: If you don’t perform, you lose your spot.
When the stick is gone, the action drops. Negotiations will rise. The right will rise. And companies hate it.
So what is AI doing now?
This puts the rod on the table.
I have heard what you have heard. People are on edge. They are more visible. They polish their performances. They volunteer. They stop going ashore.
CEOs love it.
But here is the part that most convicts are missing.
CEOs don’t want to crash the economy
If too many people lose their jobs, demand will decrease.
When demand falls, so does revenue.
Even if AI makes companies more efficient, it won’t help if customers can’t pay.
So there is a balance. Businesses want labor to be cheaper and more flexible.
But they don’t want a consumer apocalypse or a deep recession.
Therefore, the story “AI will destroy everything” does not make sense.
If we really do have an economic downturn, the whole system will protect itself.
Governments, central banks, corporate lobbying, regulation. No one with power will calmly watch an engine blow up.
What we are seeing seems to be normalization.
Recovery of leverage.
Not the end of the matter.
Economy is like a living organism
People talk about AI as if it’s the first technology to replace work.
Not really.
The printing press changed clerks. Electricity replaced all categories of manual labor. The Internet has eliminated the middleman. ATMs did not destroy bank tellers as everyone thought.
The form is usually as follows:
- Tasks are automated
- New tasks will appear
- Costs fall, so demand expands
- Transition hurts people who are stuck in old tasks
AI will automate a lot of knowledge work in the next few years, yes.
But economics is not just a “business of knowledge”. Economics is everything.
Housing. Energy. Infrastructure. Health care. Education. Safety. Logistics. Production. Selling. Service. Construction.
There is so much to build that it’s almost hard to comprehend. Look out the window now.
You still see unfinished roads, old buildings, challenges, waiting lists, broken systems, slow processes.
And here’s the part that most crash stories overlook.
Even if artificial intelligence is able to do “all the knowledge work”, it does not mean that it will happen instantly in real life.
Because AI is not magic. It works on physical inputs:
- Data centers to be built
- Chips to be produced
- Power to be produced
- Network connections to be verified and established
- Refrigeration, land, permits and skilled labor to run it all
These things move slowly. Not because we are stupid, but there is always time in construction, energy and permitting.
You cannot “ship” a new power sub like software. You can’t spin up unlimited data centers overnight. And many countries are already struggling to expand their grids, even for basic electrification and EV charging.
This is a long transition with real limitations. And by the time the physical world arrives, the work landscape will change again.
The layoffs are real. Not the apocalypse.
Yes, layoffs are happening. And AI is now clearly shown in some of them.
No, it’s not “nothing”.
But “some job cuts + scary headlines” is not the same as “it’s over yet”.
Jobs will be cut and wages will cool, of course.
Inflation peaked in 2022 and has declined significantly since then.
This is what recovery looks like.
Not a crater.
What to do instead of panicking
If you want an antidote to obscurity, it won’t hold up.
This is a benefit.
“Don’t learn to propose.”
- Can you deliver results faster with AI?
- Could you save your company money?
- Can you increase your income?
- Can you reduce errors?
- Can you communicate clearly?
- Can you manage projects without drama?
- Can you be the one to turn chaos into execution?
This person stays on the job.
Even in crises. Even during technological shifts. Even when tools change.
So relax.
Not that nothing changes.
But because the economy is not over.
It rearranges incentives.
And if you can stop crashing and start building a vehicle for yourself, you can play this game.
