Perplexity CEO: Losing Your Job to AI Could Be a ‘Glorious’ Thing

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Tech executives are continuously trying to one-up each other on the misfortune set to hit the job market from AI. But Perplexity’s CEO suggests people should be happy to be unemployed.

Speaking on a podcast at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference last week, CEO Aravind Srinivas claimed most people do not like their jobs and that AI will free them to pursue entrepreneurship.

“The reality is most people don’t enjoy their jobs,” Srinivas said on the All-In podcast. “There’s suddenly a new possibility, a new opportunity, to go use these tools, learn them, and start your own mini business… Even if there is temporary job displacement to deal with, that sort of glorious future is what we should look forward to.”

While not exactly great news for those who like their careers, Srinivas pointed to Perplexity’s work on agentic AI as providing tools for people to create their own small businesses without funding or additional employees. The startup recently launched Personal Computer, an always-on agent that can perform tasks for a user while they sleep, such as answering emails, taking and scheduling events, all autonomously.

In this scenario, a small business owner selling T-shirts out of their garage may not need to hire an administrative or inventory assistant, although much of this…