ChatGPT Is Just a Fancy Calculator: Why AI Is Going to Create More Jobs, Not Less

Productivity and economic growth are a tide that lifts all boats, whether we're talking about agricultural machinery or artificial intelligence.

by Rod D. Martin
January 31, 2025

It’s been the week of AI, as China’s DeepSeek knocked $600 billion off Nvidia’s market cap (you should buy the dip), and the issue is raised yet again: how is this new technology going to change society, and will it cost me my job?

But we have lots of historical precedent. For every job destroyed, more higher-value jobs will be created. That’s the history of the whole last 300 years.

The fear that artificial intelligence (AI) will create mass unemployment and necessitate universal basic income (UBI) is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of economic history and technological progress. The concern is certainly not new; every major technological advancement has been met with similar anxieties, from Thomas Malthus to Reid Hoffman.

Yet history has repeatedly shown that automation does not eliminate jobs — it transforms them, making human labor more valuable (and better paid) in new and unforeseen ways.

Consider the shift in the American workforce since 180…