If recent college graduates want to advance in today’s job market, they should focus on being “literate, knowledgeable (and) easy to use” when it comes to artificial intelligence, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the CNBC America Investment Forum on Wednesday.
“AI isn’t going to take your job. Someone who knows how to use AI is going to take your job,” Bessent said, adding: “At the end of the day, for the economy as a whole, we’re seeing huge productivity gains that we haven’t seen in decades.”
When it comes to the stock market, AI is pushing multiple tech companies into crisis situations. Nine out of the world’s 10 most valuable publicly traded companies by market capitalization are involved in AI software or hardware. As of Wednesday afternoon, their market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion, followed by chipmaker Nvidia’s $4.79 trillion and Alphabet’s $4.04 trillion. Some analysts have expressed concern about the AI industry’s boom, suggesting that its top presence in the stock market could mask underlying economic weakness.
In the workplace itself, AI is becoming increasingly common, but the technology’s ability to improve employee productivity is controversial. While the majority of employees are using AI to save time, nearly 40% of the efficiency gains are offset by the time needed to edit and fact-check AI-generated content, a recent report from HR platform Workday found. Some researchers say long-term use of AI could weaken users’ critical thinking skills.
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Still, Bessent isn’t the first person to suggest that people who are proficient in AI will advance in the workplace in the near future. Talent that understands how to use AI could have an inherent advantage over other employees across multiple industries, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2025 in May. Outside the technology industry, many of whom have economic interests in the widespread use of AI, former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned workers of all kinds to adapt to the rise of technology before he left his post on January 31st.
“It’s clear that AI is going to change literally every job…There are probably jobs in the world that won’t be changed by AI, but I’ve never thought about that,” McMillon said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on September 26.
Companies like Amazon, Salesforce, and Block cited AI as the reason they laid off tens of thousands of employees last year. Companies like Amazon, Salesforce, and Block cited AI as the reason they laid off tens of thousands of employees last year.
But Bessent said Wednesday, “Small businesses could turn around in a big way,” adding: “I’m talking to some of the great investors in Silicon Valley, and they think AI is going to be a great leveler for small businesses. If you wanted to start an architecture firm, if you wanted to spin out of a large company, you probably needed 12 people for critical mass. Now you only need three.”
More entrepreneurs filed business applications in the three-month period from November to January than ever before, according to a CNBC Make It analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Some of that growth is due to AI, industry experts and entrepreneurs say.While some new business owners are starting companies in hopes that AI will take over their former careers, others are using AI tools to more easily launch and run their businesses, without necessarily needing entrepreneurial experience.
“The opportunity cost[of starting a business]is lower now simply because the labor market alternatives are not as strong,” said Saikat Chaudhry, faculty director of the Entrepreneurship Hub at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
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