Even masseuses aren’t safe as AI leaders predict career reinvention, “micro-retirements” amid job automation

At the Forbes AI 50 event in San Francisco, industry leaders from companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, Harvey, and Figure AI discussed how humans will adapt to longer lifespans in an AI-dominated economy. The conversation reveals a growing tension between AI’s promise to free humans for more meaningful work and its potential to eliminate jobs entirely, forcing a fundamental rethink of career planning and economic survival.

What they’re saying: Leaders envision AI creating opportunities for career reinvention and personal fulfillment rather than mass unemployment.

• “There’s lifespan, there’s health span, and then there’s career span,” explained Karen Lee, chief marketing officer of Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, suggesting people will have “two or three” wildly different career trajectories.
• Alan Ghelberg, CFO of Harvey, a legal AI startup that just raised $300 million at a $500 billion valuation, predicted “a lot more time to create new things in day-to-day life. More time for fitness and family as well.”

The generational divide: Gen Z is already pioneering new work patterns that challenge traditional career models.

• They’re embracing “micro-retirements” and mental health gap years to recharge and reassess career options as AI reshapes the economy.
• Many are future-proofing themselves by entering skilled trades like construction, electrical work, and plumbing that require dexterity robots haven’t mastered yet.

The automation reality check: Even traditionally human-centered services are being replaced by AI and robotics.

• Figure AI, one of the Forbes AI 50 honorees, openly states its goal “to build robots that can do any job humans can do.”
• Equinox, the upscale fitness chain, has already started replacing massage therapists with Aescape’s massage robots, signaling that physical service jobs aren’t immune to automation.

Why this matters: Randall Lane, Forbes’ chief creative officer, emphasized that this is “the first time in human history that we know in real time that we are creating disruptive technological change as it happens.”

• Unlike previous technological revolutions like assembly lines or the internet, society is witnessing AI’s transformative impact as it unfolds.
• “This is a very potent technology,” Lane noted. “We have to be optimistic. It’s going to give productivity, create new jobs. And I think what we’re going to figure out next is how we create a better world from this—instead of a dangerous one.”