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Each new wave of technology has sparked job-loss fears for different reasons. The initial shock wears off over time as jobs return in new forms
Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images
AI executives who months ago warned that their own technology would displace millions of workers are now walking those predictions back. The reversal happened in under a year. Dire forecasts of mass unemployment gave way to reassurance about augmentation, retraining, and new categories of work.
The speed of the pivot feels unprecedented, but the playbook behind it is nearly a century old. Every major technology wave since electrification — from factory automation in the 1960s to the early internet and offshoring of the 2000s — produced the same cycle of alarm and retreat. Industry leaders amplified displacement fears, public backlash threatened adoption, and leaders reversed course with organized reassurance.
