Sridhar Vembu says one skilled person using AI can do the work of ten, but 90% of jobs will not vanish

He said that new opportunities will appear, particularly in businesses that could not previously afford specialised staff such as software engineers or digital marketers, and that may now be able to hire them. He described the broader effect as a rebalancing across the economy.

He also acknowledged that the change will be difficult for many workers and businesses, calling it painful when it comes. His message, according to one report, was that the only sensible response is to accept the change and prepare for it. The reports found do not give his full text, and the figure of ten is an illustration, not a measured estimate.

Reports quote the post as saying that any job performed on the computer has this risk now, that one smart person using AI can perform the work of ten people, and that the risk is getting ever more real. It was posted on 29 October and has sparked debate among social media users, according to one report. The remarks are Vembu's own view, and the reports do not say that he cited a study or a survey in support of them. The post as reported also does not say how soon the change would reach particular roles, or which tasks are most exposed.

What he said before

Vembu had earlier predicted a ten-times or hundred-times productivity leap from AI, according to the report, which does not give the date or source of that remark.

The report places the post against changes at Zoho itself. It says the company is going through an internal overhaul in response to AI and automation, and that it faces rising costs for server memory and AI infrastructure. It says that Zoho cancelled employee appraisals for the year and cut its marketing budget, and that Vembu told employees the company could not give its usual pay increase this year. Vembu says Zoho is trying to avoid mass layoffs.

The report also mentions other firms. Amazon recently cut 250 jobs and introduced new expectations for software engineers who work with AI, and Epic Games is encouraging its employees to use AI tools. These items are reported as background and are not remarks by Vembu.

The statement has two parts that pull in different directions. The first is that a skilled worker with good tools can now produce several times as much as before, which means a firm needs fewer people for the same output. The second is that lower costs let more firms buy skills they could not afford earlier, which creates demand elsewhere. Vembu is arguing that the second effect will offset much of the first, but that the adjustment will not be smooth for the people and firms caught in the middle.

He does not put a number on the jobs that may be lost or created, and the reports found do not give one either. What they do give is the example of his own company, which has chosen to protect jobs by cutting other costs: appraisals, marketing and pay increases.

Vembu claims that a skilled person with AI can now do the work of ten, that this puts any computer job at risk, and that the economy will rebalance as firms that could not afford specialists begin to hire them. He does not claim that 90 per cent of computer workers will lose their work, and he does not claim that the change will be painless.

The posts as reported do not name particular jobs or skills, and they do not give a timetable for when the change will reach them. The reports also do not say how many people Zoho employs or whether any jobs there are at risk, beyond Vembu's statement that the company is trying to avoid mass layoffs.