By Alistair Barr
Publication Date: 2026-01-16 10:00:00
Hospitals, law firms, and tech companies are getting a preview of how AI is likely to reshape work: by automating tasks without eliminating the underlying jobs.
That’s the core message Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasized in a recent appearance on the No Priors podcast.
In a wide-ranging interview, he argued that fears of mass job destruction often confuse the “tasks” involved in a job with the broader “purpose” of the role. AI, in his view, changes how tasks get done, but the purpose remains the same. And that means, the technology probably won’t destroy jobs and could even increase demand for the people responsible for outcomes at work.
Huang’s framing is straightforward: Most jobs contain repeatable tasks that technology can compress, and a broader purpose that remains human-led. He highlighted radiology as a real-world example.
Years ago, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton predicted that AI would eradicate many radiology jobs and advised students to avoid the field. The opposite happened. While AI is automating many radiology tasks, there are actually more radiologists employed now than when Hinton made his prediction in 2016.
Here are the killer stats, shared in this 2025 blog post that describes why radiologists are still in huge demand: In 2025, American diagnostic radiology residency programs offered a record 1,208 positions, a 4% increase from 2024, and the field’s vacancy rates are at…
