Airbnb's Chesky Names Two Types of Workers Who Won't Survive AI

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says exactly two types of professionals "will not survive the age of AI": pure people managers and workers who refuse to change.

"The two types of people who will not make the shift to AI are pure people managers, and people that are rigid and don't want to change and evolve," Chesky said on the Invest Like The Best podcast earlier this year.

His warning lands amid sharper forecasts from other tech chiefs. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previously said AI could disrupt half of entry-level white-collar work, though he softened that position this year. Microsoft's AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, went further, estimating most professional work could be replaced within 12 to 18 months. Chesky's view is more optimistic, but it comes with one hard condition: adapt or disappear.

What happens to managers?

The mechanism Chesky describes is structural. As AI reshapes how companies operate, every senior employee must become a "hybrid people manager" or "manager IC" — a boss who also does the work. Managers need a technical approach and a direct connection to the end product. Supervision alone no longer justifies the role.

"I don't think people managers will have any value in the future. When I mean people managers, [I mean] people that only manage people," Chesky said. "You can't just be these managers where you're people's therapists, and you're just doing meetings, you're doing one-on-ones."

He pointed to former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive as the model. Ive balanced product design with team leadership. Chesky still endorses the soft side of management — routine check-ins, dinners with direct reports. The difference is that managers must now lead through the work itself, not around it.

Rank-and-file workers who ignore the technology fare no better in his forecast. The upside, Chesky said, is that mastering AI tools is remarkably easy for anyone with a "growth mindset." His argument echoes a line now common among tech executives: the chatbots won't take your job, but someone who uses them will.

Which CEOs agree with him?

Chesky has put the argument into practice at Airbnb. He credits AI as central to the success of his $103 billion short-term rental company and frames it as a necessity, not an advantage, for other business leaders.

"From a business standpoint, I think AI is the best thing that ever happened to Airbnb," Chesky told CNBC in an interview earlier this year.

"The founder-led companies and the companies that are prepared to change and transform are the companies that are going to benefit from AI, because AI means everyone changes," he continued. "And if you don't change, you're going to be disrupted."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has popularized the same idea at the $5.23 trillion GPU giant. As AI spreads through every industry, he argues, no worker is exempt from learning the tools — and the gap between users and non-users will decide who keeps a job.

"Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable," Huang said at the Milken Institute's Global Conference in 2025. "You're not going to lose your job to an AI, but you're going to lose your job to someone who uses AI."

"I would recommend 100% of everybody take advantage of AI," he advised. "Don't be that person who ignores this technology and as a result, loses your job."

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos extended the argument to entertainment. He concedes AI will affect creative jobs but rejects the idea that the software itself replaces talent; the competitive edge goes to creatives who lean in.

"I don't believe that an A.I. program is going to write a better screenplay than a great writer, or is going to replace a great performance," Sarandos told The New York Times in 2024. "A.I. is not going to take your job. The person who uses A.I. well might take your job."

The message from three CEOs across rentals, chips and streaming is consistent: the threat is not the model but the colleague who has already learned to use it.