AI job – Eugenia Kuyda, founder of Replika and CEO of Wabi, says fears that AI could eliminate jobs are “justified” and may lead to “crazy protests around jobs and AI,” as companies scale back hiring for junior roles.
Eugenia Kuyda doesn’t dismiss the anxiety around AI jobs. In a live conversation on the Platformer podcast, the Replika founder and CEO of mini-app platform Wabi argued that the backlash she fears may be provoked less by theory than by what people are already experiencing.
“I believe that the fears about AI eliminating jobs are justified,” Kuyda said, laying out a scenario where economic pressure turns into public anger. She added that she expects the situation to escalate: “crazy protests around jobs and AI are going to start happening.”
Kuyda’s warning was pointed. She described stepping out of an “optimistic city” built around “future, future, future,” then running into a harsher reality. “As soon as you get out of here, like it’s pretty scary,” she told Platformer founder Casey Newton. “People are really struggling to find jobs, and I think this can only get worse.”.
She pushed back on the idea that AI will automatically create new jobs the way earlier technology shifts did. Kuyda said companies, including her own, are already adjusting hiring plans—especially at the entry level. “Probably tech needs to create a better narrative of how this is going to be. but I don’t believe in. ‘oh. it’s just another technology. and we’ll have even more — like radiologists still exist. ‘” she said.
Her own hiring reality was blunt. “But I’m not hiring people anymore for these junior jobs, and I don’t know who is,” Kuyda said. She explained why that matters for startups. tying it to costs and risk: hiring someone inexperienced. she said. “becomes extremely expensive and completely not sustainable for a startup.”.
Kuyda also acknowledged the emotional weight of the message. “That’s like really bad news, frankly,” she said.
When contacted, Kuyda declined to comment further.
Even while raising the prospect of job-related unrest, Kuyda said she remains optimistic about what AI could enable for creators. She argued that rapid progress could make it easier for more people to build software and products on their own. “I think that the idea that we can all be creators and can kind of channel our creativity a lot more. can build stuff that before was constrained by developers or designers or whatever — I think that’s kind of cool. ” she said.
She went further, suggesting AI could open the door to entirely new operating systems. Kuyda framed it as a rare moment of technological vulnerability for major platforms. saying the iPhone may have a weakness it hasn’t faced before. “This is probably the first time in history where the iPhone’s somewhat fragile,” she said. “Maybe there is a way to build a better operating system that’s more serving us versus serving companies through the apps that they built.”.
For now. though. the core of her case is that the job story people are living through is not waiting for optimistic narratives. Kuyda’s message connects those job struggles to the anger she expects to spill outward—once more firms stop bringing in junior talent and fewer people can find a foothold in the market.
Replika Eugenia Kuyda Wabi AI jobs entry-level hiring AI protests Platformer podcast Casey Newton startups operating systems Apple iPhone