One of the things that’s going on at the moment is you see markets gravitating to higher multiples, because I think the market’s looking ahead and saying, most enterprises are going to find ways to drive more productivity in their business, and that should be good for earnings growth. And I think the market’s embracing that at the moment.
Will AI implementation result in shrinking workforces?
This has to be seen through a lens of time. Do I think that we’re going to have a structurally different full employment level in the U.S. 10 years from now than we do now? No. But in the transition, because of the pace of change, could there be periods of time where we have higher structural unemployment in certain businesses or in certain types of job functions? Yes, but we have a very nimble, very, very diverse economy. [In the U.S.], our ability to have labor move to different places and to create new industries and new jobs continues … Our economy is big [and] resilient. People gravitate to other places where there are opportunities. Workforce and work patterns shift.
If you were advising a high schooler about what to study at college, what would you say?
Not everybody should do the same thing. But with all we’re doing with AI and AI infrastructure, I think being an electrical engineer, being an electrician, being able to get involved in data centers and that infrastructure, seems super exciting.
Education is a lifelong process. School is obviously a step in that. That doesn’t mean it’s for everybody. The important thing is to figure out what you’re interested in and figure out where you see opportunities, and then you’ve got to go work hard and try to advance yourself and continue to learn and continue to find ways to contribute.
Productivity gains change the way people work, but we’ve got a very big, broad, deep, resilient economy, and it’s not just all about AI and technology. Technology is very important, but think about what’s going on with technical manufacturing. Think about what’s going on in an industry like mining, given our need to have more independence around critical minerals and all the jobs and labor and technology that has to go into [it.] There are all sorts of things that continue to change and shift. People need to find their path, and there’s no one way.