AI Could Push Gen Z Unemployment to 35%, Warns ServiceNow CEO — But Is This a Crisis or a Calculated Move?

If you thought today’s job market was brutal, buckle up. ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott just dropped a bombshell prediction that has Gen Z bracing for impact: AI could push college graduate unemployment to a staggering 35% within the next few years. That’s not a typo — nearly one in three young professionals could find themselves staring at a blank inbox, ghosted by recruiters and replaced by lines of code.

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, McDermott painted a grim picture of the future workforce. “I think it’s very natural to be concerned about jobs,” he said. “I think young people coming out of university today [are experiencing] 9 percent unemployment. I think it could easily go into the mid-30s in the next couple of years.”

And he’s not just talking about a few coding gigs vanishing. He’s talking about entire career paths evaporating. “So much of the work is going to be done by agents,” McDermott warned, “so it’s going to be challenging for young people to differentiate themselves in the corporate environment.”

But here’s the kicker: McDermott isn’t exactly a neutral voice in this conversation. His company, ServiceNow, has been riding the AI wave hard, recently announcing a major “strategic collaboration” with OpenAI to “power agentic AI experiences.” Translation? They’re betting the farm on AI taking over the very jobs he’s warning about.

And the market seems to agree. As McDermott delivered his dire forecast live on air, ServiceNow’s stock ticked up slightly — a tiny but telling sign that investors are listening, and they like what they hear.

This isn’t the first time a tech CEO has sounded the AI alarm while simultaneously cashing in. It’s a familiar playbook: stoke fear, drive urgency, and position your company as the only solution. But what’s missing from this narrative is any sense of responsibility for the millions of lives that could be upended.

McDermott, for his part, seems more excited than concerned. “We will have billions of users in the next several years that we could never have gotten from human beings,” he said, almost gleefully. It’s a chilling reminder that for some in the tech world, progress isn’t just about innovation — it’s about replacing people entirely.

But not everyone is buying the hype. Senator Bernie Sanders has been one of the loudest critics of the AI gold rush, arguing that if AI is really about to destroy the economy, the logical move would be to hit pause. “Shut everything down until we can figure out what it all means for the economy and workers,” he’s said, challenging the industry to prove its worth before it wreaks havoc.

The debate is no longer just about technology — it’s about power, ethics, and the future of work itself. Are we ready to hand over our careers to algorithms? And if we do, who benefits? The CEOs and shareholders, or the workers left behind?

One thing is clear: the AI revolution isn’t coming — it’s already here. And whether it’s a tool for empowerment or a weapon of mass displacement depends on who’s holding the reins.

More on the job market: AI Job Loss Is Breaking the Psyche of Workers, Psychiatrist Warns

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