"Labor Market Impact Is Small": Zoho's Sridhar Vembu On AI Taking Over Jobs

The advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) technology poses a threat to many existing jobs and their utility in the future. Amid this, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu noted that while vendors are promising major savings by cutting jobs through AI, "at least so far," the labour market impact has been "small". Taking to X, Mr Vembu said that it was important to stay mindful of the gap between hype and reality when evaluating any new technology.

"Vendors are promising large savings from eliminating jobs using AI but according to the study linked below [at least so far] the labor market impact of AI is "small". The field is moving fast and I personally believe there will be impact but we have not seen the impact yet. It is always good to be aware of hype vs reality when evaluating any technology," Mr Vembu tweeted. 

Vendors are promising large savings from eliminating jobs using AI but according to the study linked below [at least so far] the labor market impact of AI is "small".

The field is moving fast and I personally believe there will be impact but we have not seen the impact yet. It…

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) April 26, 2025

Responding to the post, one user said, "Good to know, but it's always a short-term relief. AGI flips a lot of things, whenever it comes. Until then, it's good to upskill and do hard things that impact human lives." 

Another user noted, "There is no debate on that. But when, how each market, positions will be impacted negatively will not be predictable. But wiser would be for workforce to #Learn to use #AI. Human-machine interface will always require human labour!"

"it may not be job cuts due to replacement, but definitely resources shall be released based on productivity increase due to AI. the surplus people need to be accommodated elsewhere to make use of their skills for a better purpose," commented a third user. 

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"When Computers were introduced, people predicted major job losses due to much faster Data processing and Automation. Today millions of users sitting in front of PC's 8 hrs a day. Same is for AI. If AI becomes successful we will have many jobs created managing AI deployments," expressed another. 

Meanwhile, in a previous post, Mr Vembu expressed his pessimism about the software job market amid the AI takeover threat, citing reasons such as "massive over-capacity" and the failure to remove people with inefficiencies. "That is why I am pessimistic about the software job market, even before accounting for AI," Sridhar Vembu said in his post.