Eric Schmidt guesses AI can replace 2,000 of 10,000 employees

Eric Schmidt is the former chief executive of Google. On the In Good Company podcast, Schmidt said that AI assistants will change how executives operate companies. Schmidt guessed that AI can make about 2,000 of 10,000 employees not necessary. Schmidt said that fewer employees will be necessary to plan, give information and move numbers. Schmidt gave no data for the guess.

What leaders do now

Schmidt described these uses:

• Two founders tell an AI assistant each Friday to show items that are different from their values.
• One executive made an AI copy of the executive that checks the work of an employee and gives instructions.
• Assistants check projects and help find how to increase profits.

The numbers

A friend of Schmidt has a company that cut 20% of its employees, with the “glue people” who did coordination work. Schmidt said that a model takes 6 months to make and 2 months to test. A rival model can replace it in 5 months or less. Schmidt described the revenue growth of Anthropic as “real money with real customers” but gave no number.

What is not known

No study or company data is given for the guess. Schmidt said that the AI copy can be abusive to the employee. The friend got death threats after the cuts.

Insight: Agents may move coordination work from staff to files and owners

Schmidt says that AI assistants can replace the “glue people” who do coordination work. The chief technology officer of Dell says that its edge is knowledge in skill files that agents read. Atlassian says that each agent must have a human owner. This reads as a move of coordination from employees to the owners of agent files, who get more control. Leaders must find who holds that knowledge before they cut employees.