- Jeff Bezos says AI pessimists are ‘completely wrong’
- Amazon founder says using AI will lead to greater productivity
- Bezos praises Trump, but says ‘I’m on America’s side’
Jeff Bezos has criticized opponents of the growing use of AI in the workplace, saying the technology could actually help workers around the world and unlock additional productivity for everyone.
Talk to CNBCAlan Sorkin, the Amazon founder turned aspiring socialite, sought to downplay growing fears that AI technology would hollow out the job market, particularly for younger workers.
“I think these people are completely wrong,” Bezos said. “What’s really going to happen is (AI) is going to elevate all these people.”
“Next level” work
Bezos, whose former company is one of the world’s biggest adopters of AI, instead predicted that the technology would help increase productivity, and could even lead to deflation as the cost of goods and services falls – but clarified that this could only happen if “we let this technology work and don’t cripple it too soon with regulation.”
He also dismissed the idea that AI coding tools could pose a threat to software engineers, saying the technology could actually help them be more productive by spotting and fixing problems.
“It’s just that the work is going to be done at a higher level,” Bezos said. “It’s going to be done with a bulldozer instead of a shovel, and that will be a good thing.”
In a wide-ranging interview at the headquarters of his Blue Origin spaceship, Bezos also discussed tax issues, President Trump and economic policies in the United States.
“The top 1% of taxpayers pay about 40% of all tax revenue, and the bottom half pay 3%,” Bezos said. “I don’t think it should be 3%, I think it should be zero.”
Although he left Amazon in 2021, Bezos is still paid handsomely by the company: as of April 2026, he received a salary of $81,400, a figure that has not changed since 1998, although he also received $1.6 million in security and travel expenses. Of course, Bezos also owns about 8% of Amazon, with the value of his shares estimated to be several hundred billion dollars.
“People sometimes say that, you know, I don’t pay taxes. That’s not true. I pay billions of dollars in taxes,” Bezos said. CNBCpushing back against critics saying he’s not doing his part, and also saying charging him more wouldn’t solve anything.
“You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher from Queens. I promise you that.”
Bezos also told Sorkin that he thought President Donald Trump was “a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term,” but noted that he had also spoken to his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
“We need our business leaders to contribute to the administration, regardless of who is president,” he said.
“I am on America’s side,” he added. “And that’s where business leaders should be.”
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