As fears grow that artificial intelligence (AI) will wipe out jobs, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says the opposite may be true.
Tenev argues that AI won’t eliminate work, but rather redefine what it means to have a job.
"AI will lead to an explosion of not just new jobs, but new job families," Tenev told FOX Business’ Charles Payne during "FOX Business In Depth: The A.I. Arms Race."
Tenev said skepticism about new technology is nothing new, comparing today’s AI shift to the nation’s transition from farm and factory labor to office and digital work over the past century.
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"Maybe 100 years ago, our ancestors would be looking at what you and I are doing right now, which is sort of like talking to each other digitally about AI. They think, you know, that's not real work," Tenev said.
"I think in the same way that they'd probably not think of what we're doing as real work, we're [going to] look ahead at the job families and job opportunities in the future," he added.
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Those future jobs, Tenev said, could include new forms of investing and trading for a living, roles that many people do not currently view as viable full-time careers.
"Maybe that's not real work," Tenev said.
"But to the people of the future, it'll definitely feel very real and stressful, and it'll have with it all of the feelings that we get about our jobs," he added.
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Tenev argues that technological disruption has always reshaped work norms rather than eliminating them altogether. He noted that while similar shifts have happened before, today’s pace of change is much faster.
"Even though we've seen disruption like this in the past, we have a feeling that it's going to be more rapid," he said.
"The velocity, the rate of change, and the acceleration makes us very nervous."
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Automation and AI have already begun replacing some professional tasks, with companies such as Amazon and Salesforce citing it as one factor behind recent layoffs.
The changes have fueled concern in Washington, where a December 2025 Senate report listed fast-food, customer service and executive assistant positions among the most vulnerable to automation.
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