Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Vice Chair and President Brad Smith is offering career advice to students navigating AI-driven job disruption.
In an interview with Axios published Tuesday, Smith said growing fear around AI and jobs is being amplified by hype from parts of the tech industry.
"Nobody knows for sure, but let's not panic," Smith said.
Smith, who has been with Microsoft for 33 years, said AI-related fears among graduates should serve as a wake-up call for the tech sector. He pointed to recent commencement ceremonies where students booed mentions of AI, saying young people want a voice in deciding how the technology is used.
He added that many graduates are already dealing with economic uncertainty and a rapidly changing job market, with AI now intensifying those concerns.
In an essay published this month, Smith said long-term career success will depend on combining personal expertise with practical AI knowledge.
"Develop expertise in an important field that fascinates you. Keep working hard to master it," Smith wrote.
AI Will Change Jobs, But Not Overnight
Smith acknowledged that concerns about AI-driven job losses are real.
In his essay, he said entry-level roles are already facing pressure from automation. Companies are also under pressure to reduce headcount as they spend heavily on AI infrastructure. He described this as a "perfect storm" for new graduates.
Still, Smith argued that AI transformation will take time.
"This is going to unfold over 25 years, not two-and-a-half," he told Axios, pushing back against predictions of rapid economic disruption.
Smith said tech leaders often make two mistakes: they overestimate how fast technology will change society and underestimate people's ability to adapt.
He compared AI to earlier major technologies such as computers and electricity, saying they changed work over time by reshaping tasks rather than eliminating all jobs at once.
Use AI As A Tool, Not A Replacement
Smith said people should think of their jobs as a collection of tasks.
Some tasks can be handled by AI. Some can be improved with AI. Others still require human judgment.
For most people, he said, AI will likely serve as a productivity tool rather than a direct replacement.
Smith added that human traits such as curiosity, creativity, compassion, communication and courage will become even more valuable in the AI era.
The comments come as debate around AI's long-term impact intensifies.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently warned that advanced AI could create larger labor-market disruptions than previous technological shifts and called for stronger safeguards around powerful AI systems.
Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella has also urged a more practical approach to AI adoption. Speaking on The New York Times' Hard Fork podcast last week, Nadella warned against AI overuse, saying workers should not use frontier models for non-frontier problems.
Smith said the AI debate has become too focused on extreme predictions.
Instead, he urged people to focus on using AI the way past technologies were used, as a tool to help people do better work, not replace them.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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