89% of CEOs Expect to Hire More People. So Why Is Everyone Talking About AI Replacing Jobs?
By Brett Dyess
KPMG’s latest U.S. CEO Outlook found that 89% of CEOs surveyed expect their organizations to increase headcount over the next three years.
At the same time, their longer-term workforce strategies in response to AI include:
- 86% are redesigning roles, career paths and team structure for human-AI collaboration.
- 79% are hiring for AI and technology capabilities.
- 75% say AI integration has made them rethink entry-level skill requirements.
- 53% are planning workforce reductions in some areas.
Those numbers tell a much more complicated story than: “AI is taking jobs.”
Companies can grow headcount while eliminating some jobs. Creating others. Redesigning roles. Changing the skills they value. And automating pieces of work along the way.
All at the same time.
These are leaders’ expectations and plans, not a count of jobs already created or lost.
That creates a very different challenge for Talent Acquisition.
The question is no longer simply: “How many people do we need?”
It becomes:
- What capabilities will we need?
- Which do we already have?
- Which can we develop?
- Which should we hire?
- And which parts of the work can technology handle?
Brett’s Perspective
AI may not make workforce planning smaller.
It may make workforce planning much more complicated.
The organizations that get this right won’t simply hire fewer people or more people.
They’ll understand what work needs to happen — and build the right combination of people, skills, and technology to get it done.