Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a direct message for the next generation of workers: stop worrying about artificial intelligence and start figuring out how to use it.
Speaking to nearly 400 Harvard economics students in a wide-ranging conversation with professor David Moss, Powell acknowledged that Gen Z is stepping into one of the tougher job markets in recent memory. New college hires that were plentiful just a few years ago are now harder to come by, he noted, as companies take stock of what roles can be automated. He was candid about the situation: there’s something bigger and more structural happening around technology, and he didn’t pretend otherwise.
But rather than counsel caution, Powell pushed students toward the tools most likely to disrupt their careers. “I think you’re in a situation where you need to invest the time to really master the use of these new technologies,” he said, “and that should stand you in good stead.”
Powell spoke from personal experience. He said large language models have made him noticeably more productive — especially for learning things quickly — and that conversations with his son and others in the workforce had reinforced that view. For those who develop real fluency with AI, he argued, the technology is an amplifier, not a threat.
Companies are already moving
That optimism came alongside a fairly sobering picture of where things stand right now. Powell acknowledged that major U.S. companies — many of whose executives he regularly speaks with — are actively exploring how much of their workforce can be replaced by capable AI systems. The economic pressure is straightforward: if a competitor reduces headcount through automation and you don’t, you’re at a cost disadvantage. That logic is hard to argue with, and Powell didn’t try to.
The current round of AI-driven job displacement, he noted, appears to be hitting middle management and back-office roles hardest. Workers who learn to use these tools fluently are likely to be more insulated, though Powell admitted that no one really knows how it will all shake out over time.
The long view — and its limits
To put the current moment in context, Powell reached back through economic history. Every major wave of technological disruption, from the mechanization of the textile industry onward, has ultimately raised productivity and living standards — as long as society continued producing workers with the skills to benefit from the new technology. He expects AI to follow the same pattern.
“In the longer term, this economy is going to give you great opportunities,” he told the students. “Just be a little optimistic about that.”
But the students pressed him on the timeline. When professor Moss asked whether “longer term” means 10 years or 40, Powell was honest: “It’s so hard to say.” He acknowledged that there can be extended periods of disruption during major technological transitions. The historical precedent isn’t entirely comforting — when mechanical looms displaced English textile workers in the early 19th century, the fallout was severe enough to spark the Luddite movement. Some of those displaced workers never recovered within their lifetimes.
Powell didn’t dismiss that concern. What he did say is that for those who build real skills with these tools now, the medium and longer-term outlook for the U.S. economy is strong — stronger, he suggested, than for most other economies in the world.