New poll reveals CEOs are hopeful about AI's positive impact — but should you be worried?
A spate of layoffs hit the American labor market in 2025, and the tech sector was affected the most. This has added to the fear of Artificial Intelligence taking up jobs of workers. With sceptics arguing AI is already threatening entry-level jobs, a new survey of CEOs of public companies suggests that the executives are hopeful that AI will accelerate hiring in the next year. The Teneo survey found that two in three CEOs expect AI to increase entry-level hiring, while over half, 58% of the executives, expect growth in senior leadership roles, Business Insider reported.
According to the advisory firm, Teneo's annual outlook survey and report, tech firms are ramping up hiring in engineering and AI-related roles while many existing jobs are being reconfigured or reassigned as companies embrace automation. The CEOs who participated in the survey largely agree that AI is reconfiguring jobs by automating some tasks while creating new ones. "It's not that AI is wiping out the workforce today – it's reshaping it," Teneo Global Head of AI Ryan Cox explained. Furthermore, the report suggests that with the rise of AI, new job titles, like decision designer and AI experience officer, are also emerging to kickstart an era of human-AI collaboration. Similar views have been shared by big names, including the President and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.
Teneo's survey further found that about two-thirds or 68% of the CEOs surveyed plan to increase AI spending in 2026, which marks a minor increase from last year. The slight increase instead of a remarkable spike highlights the ongoing apprehensions regarding the profitability of AI models and return on investment. According to the report, while investors expect fast returns on AI initiatives, the survey found that only 16% of leaders at large-cap companies with annual revenue of $10 billion and above believe such fast returns are realistic. The cut in spending could also be attributed to the general economic outlook of CEO, as only 31% of them expected the global economy to improve in 2026, a major drop from 51% last year.
The Teneo survey was conducted between October 14 and November 10, gathering responses from 350 global CEOs of leading public companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. The survey included about 400 institutional investors representing $19 trillion in portfolio value. The findings of the survey majorly contradict the prevailing narrative of AI and automation wiping out jobs on a large scale. They also go against the trends in the current job market, where companies like HP have announced plans to cut 4,000 to 6,000 roles by the end of 2028, to reduce costs. Other companies like Amazon also announced a cut of 14,000 roles across its global workforce, in the largest layoff in its history. While companies cited operational streamlining and costs as the reason for the layoffs, analysts argue it could be to make room for automation and investment in AI.
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