Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said Monday that artificial intelligence has slowed hiring efforts at large companies, and that many companies are seeing “substantial productivity gains” thanks to artificial intelligence.
Kashkari said companies are telling him that AI is impacting their hiring plans, and he expects the labor market to continue to see fewer jobs and fewer layoffs. However, he says this is less true for small and medium-sized businesses.
“AI is really a big business story,” Kashkari said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in 2022, sparking an AI boom, companies across the country have spent billions of dollars to deploy the technology to their workforces. But the rapid rise of AI is also raising concerns about safety and job security, as investors and business owners chase the promise of increased efficiency and productivity.
Still, Kashkari said companies are starting to see some return on their investments.
“There’s no question there’s some misinvestment or fraudulent investment going on, but there are too many anecdotes of companies taking advantage of this and actually seeing productivity gains,” Kashkari said. “Companies that I talked to two years ago about being skeptical are now saying, ‘No, we’re actually using it.'”
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.
