Meta CMO says there are 3 things that will determine whether AI causes companies to grow or shrink head count (www.businessinsider.com)

Meta CMO Alex Schultz told the A16z Podcast that whether AI expands or contracts company head counts will hinge on three forces — and the net effect remains uncertain. He argued that current AI will both eliminate tasks through efficiency gains (the so-called “Great Shrinking”) and enable entirely new types of work that didn’t exist before, while also making previously cost‑prohibitive projects affordable. Schultz framed this as a simple equation: automation reduces labor demand, new capabilities create demand, and lowered cost thresholds unlock more work — with which side wins determining hiring outcomes. He added the caveat that arrival of AGI would upend the calculation. Technically, Schultz pointed to concrete shifts: automation of routine tasks and improved semantic understanding for content ranking are already reducing roles or changing skill needs; meanwhile new roles — AI trainers, prompt engineers, vendor-guidance positions — have emerged to build, tune and govern models. Cost reductions mean things like customer‑support bots are now viable where they weren’t before, creating implementation and oversight jobs. The implication for AI/ML teams and org leaders is clear: workforce planning must account for both displacement and new capability-driven demand, plus governance and upskilling to capture the upside while managing risks.