Google's James Manyika is betting that doomers are wrong about AI and jobs
James Manyika, a senior vice president at Google, believes that jobs are harder to automate than commonly thought. He argues that the process of automation will unfold more slowly than aggressive predictions suggest. Manyika's perspective is shaped by his extensive experience outside Silicon Valley and his involvement in AI policy discussions.
- ▪James Manyika is a senior vice president at Google and leads the company's research and labs operations.
- ▪He argues that jobs are harder to automate than many in Silicon Valley claim.
- ▪Manyika is skeptical of predictions that a significant portion of jobs will disappear due to AI in the near future.
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AI Google's James Manyika is betting that doomers are wrong about AI and jobs Tasks are getting easier to automate — jobs aren't. What now? Casey Newton May 19, 2026 — 26 min read Some fun news: we're doing our first-ever Platformer live event on June 2 at Atlassian headquarters in San Francisco, and you can join us! We'll be announcing our guests shortly, but suffice to say it's gonna be a fun time. Only a few dozen tickets are available, so if you're interested I suggest buying one soon. Get all the details here.This is a column about AI. My fiancé works at Anthropic. See my full ethics disclosure here.Last week, I sat down with Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, who made what I thought was a pretty strong case that jobs are just harder to automate away than AI companies keep telling us.
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