Altman and Cuban warn AI will eliminate entire job categories within 5 years

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and billionaire Mark Cuban have issued stark warnings about AI’s imminent impact on employment, with Altman predicting entire job categories will be “eaten up” by AI and Cuban declaring AI literacy will become a mandatory workplace skill within five years. Their predictions suggest a fundamental reshaping of the workforce is already underway, requiring immediate preparation from both workers and employers.

What they’re saying: Both tech leaders emphasized the urgency of adapting to AI’s workplace transformation.

• “That’s a category where I just say, you know what, when you call customer support, you’re on target and AI, and that’s fine,” Altman said about customer service roles at a Federal Reserve conference.
• Cuban warned that if you’re not already using AI to “move faster or make smarter decisions, you’re behind.”
• Regarding AI in healthcare, Altman noted: “Maybe I’m a dinosaur here, but I really do not want to, like, entrust my medical fate to ChatGPT with no human doctor in the loop.”

Jobs most at risk: Altman identified customer service as virtually ready for complete AI takeover, describing current AI systems as capable of handling all customer support tasks without mistakes, phone trees, or transfers.

• Healthcare represents the next frontier, with Altman claiming AI is already “a better diagnostician than most doctors in the world” most of the time.
• Cuban suggested traditional support roles like personal assistants, coding experts, and marketing advisers could become obsolete as AI agents enable “solo founders into full teams.”

The timeline: Cuban predicts AI will become a “baseline” workplace skill comparable to email or Excel within five years.

• He expects more people will work independently, leveraging AI assistants and agent technology for tasks previously requiring human specialists.
• The transformation is happening now, with both leaders emphasizing that preparation cannot wait.

Security concerns: Altman warned that advanced AI could pose risks to critical infrastructure, particularly citing AI voice clones as a direct threat to the U.S. financial system.

• He expressed worry that bad actors, potentially based overseas, could weaponize near-future AI capabilities against banking systems.

Why this matters: These aren’t just predictions from industry observers—they come from leaders directly shaping AI development and deployment across major sectors.

• The convergence of their warnings suggests the workplace disruption is both inevitable and imminent, requiring immediate strategic planning from businesses and workers.
• Their advice points to a clear action plan: begin AI education now, identify which current tasks could be AI-automated, and focus human workers on higher-value activities that generate revenue.