The 'AI destroys jobs' panic check
Kevin O’Leary took to X on Tuesday and argued that AI is more likely to reshape work than wipe it out. His take is simple: every big tech leap freaks people out first, then ends up creating new industries and higher-skill jobs.
Why investors should care
That sounds philosophical, but it’s also a market thesis. If AI is the next internet-sized platform shift, then the winners may be the companies selling the gear, power, cloud, and chips underneath it — not just the flashy app layer.
He pointed to healthcare and engineering as places where AI could speed up diagnostics and research, with the kind of productivity boosts that sound great until you realize someone has to build the whole thing first. That’s the part bulls love: more demand for computing infrastructure, more capex, more spending on the plumbing.
Same movie, different decade
O’Leary’s comments line up with a familiar chorus from other heavy hitters like Jensen Huang, David Sacks, Jeff Bezos, and Goldman Sachs' David Solomon: AI may change jobs, but it probably won’t turn the labor market into a Terminator sequel.
Big picture: if the AI story keeps evolving from “chatbot novelty” into “economic infrastructure,” the real trade may be the boring stuff that powers the shiny stuff.