Sam Altman Says AI-Adopting Companies Are Hiring

Business Insider reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on June 1, 2026, "the companies that I know that have adopted AI the most are also the ones hiring the most." Business Insider quotes Altman as saying that companies publicly citing AI as a reason for layoffs "are the ones adopting AI the least," and that AI can be a "convenient way" for companies to explain layoffs. Business Insider reports Altman said he remains "unsure" how AI will ultimately affect employment but that his view has become more optimistic after observing adoption of OpenAI coding tools, including Codex. Business Insider also lists recent layoffs at several tech companies and cites a March Pew Research Center poll that found elevated public concern about AI.

Companies integrating automation and developer-assist tools often see uneven, task-specific productivity gains rather than uniform job replacement. Observed commercial deployments of code-generation tools typically accelerate developer throughput for certain workflows but leave complex system-design and long-horizon supervision tasks largely human-driven. Industry reporting and academic studies repeatedly describe these gains as "task augmentation" rather than wholesale substitution.

Reporting by Business Insider places Altman's remarks against broader tech-sector turbulence: some firms, including Block, Cisco, Coinbase, Snap, and Salesforce, have announced workforce reductions while others are continuing to hire. Industry surveys, including the cited Pew Research Center poll, show rising public anxiety about AI job impacts, which shapes corporate communications and regulatory attention.

For practitioners and observers, monitor adoption patterns of developer-facing models and tools, hiring trends in engineering and product teams at AI adopters versus non-adopters, and empirical workforce metrics such as job postings, role mix, and productivity benchmarks. Also watch for follow-up statements or data releases from companies and independent researchers that quantify where automation creates net new roles versus where it displaces tasks.