Micha Kaufman, chief executive of the freelancer platform Fiverr, has warned that those failing to adapt to a new reality are “doomed.”
In an internal memo shared with employees, Kaufman said that even his own job could be on the line because of the disruption that artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing to the labor market.
“AI is coming for your jobs. Heck, it’s coming for my job too,” Kaufman said in a candid warning that was leaked online.
Kaufman said no profession is immune, listing roles such as programmers, designers, product managers, data scientists, lawyers, and salespeople among those at risk.
Fiverr CEO says “ AI is coming for your jobs. Heck, it’s coming for my job too.” pic.twitter.com/u0hGBg0J0B
undefined Aadit Sheth (@aaditsh) May 5, 2025
He clarified that he wasn’t referring specifically to jobs at Fiverr, but to the broader career landscape in an industry being reshaped by automation. “I am not trying to scare you,” Kaufman said, describing his remarks as “the unpleasant truth” and “a wake-up call.”
While the job market is currently complicated and concerns about AI’s impact are not new, Kaufman’s warning has drawn criticism from some observers who view it as overly alarmist.
“This is a classic tech founder productivity push dressed up as bettering yourself,” one commenter on a social media platform X said. Another criticized Kaufman as being “super tone-deaf” for implying he’s in the same boat as employees who live paycheck to paycheck.
A wealthy CEO saying “it’s coming for my job too” to regular employees who need their paychecks is super tone deaf.
undefined Dave (@helbergdave) May 5, 2025
Also, “I love you all” is the most meaningless thing a CEO can tell employees who were just told that most of them are about to be fired.
None of this projects…
Some have noted that companies are preemptively shifting the blame for eventual layoffs onto AI, even though it is their leadership that is ultimately responsible.
The impact of AI could be felt more acutely at Fiverr, a marketplace for freelance services, some of which are increasingly automated.
“Why pay some random person to build you a shitty website or design a nice graphic when Canva + Cursor exist,” startup founder Brandon Veiseh commented.
What else did Kaufman say?
In the email to employees, Kaufman also said that only “exceptional” talents will keep their jobs, while others will have to change careers “in a matter of months.” The solution was to “study, research, and master” the latest AI tools in a relevant field.
“You must understand that what was once considered 'easy tasks' will no longer exist; what was considered 'hard tasks' will be the new easy, and what was considered 'impossible tasks' will be the new hard,” Kaufman said.
“I honestly don't think that a promising professional future awaits you if you disregard reality,” he said.
Kaufman offered no data to support his claims, though early studies suggest generative AI may be overhyped, showing little impact on productivity or wages so far – despite billions of dollars in investment.
What do others say?
Other tech leaders who have recently discussed AI’s impact on the operations of their companies include IBM’s Arvind Krishna, who told The Wall Street Journal that AI agents replaced the work of a couple of hundred human resources workers.
However, Krishna also said that new jobs were created in programming and sales as a result.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week that “maybe half the development is going to be done by AI, as opposed to people” in the next year, adding that “it will just kind of increase from there.”
He made the remarks during a panel discussion with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who noted that as much as 30% of his company’s code is already being written by AI.
Still, Microsoft is much more upbeat about the AI-dominated future, with one of its executives, Jared Spataro, writing in a recent blog post that everyone will be a boss of AI agents in the future.
“As agents increasingly join the workforce, we’ll see the rise of the agent boss: someone who builds, delegates to and manages agents to amplify their impact and take control of their career in the age of AI,” Spataro said.
“From the boardroom to the frontline, every worker will need to think like the CEO of an agent-powered startup,” he said.
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