- As AI reshapes the job market, healthcare is emerging as one of the only sectors both growing and largely immune to automation. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says roles like nursing are unlikely to be impacted, even as other white-collar jobs face disruption. Healthcare jobs are projected to lead U.S. employment growth over the next decade, and while there are signs of slowing momentum, healthcare remains a rare safe haven for Gen Z workers navigating an uncertain AI-driven future.
There may be some promising news for those pursuing to become doctors and nurses post-graduation: your fields aren’t only the glue keeping the job market together, your career could be immune from AI disruption.
As the labor market slows and entry-level workers struggle to find a career that AI isn’t actively replacing, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, says that jobs in healthcare may be the only ones protected from automation.
When asked which jobs may get wiped by new technologies, the AI company leader broke down his answer by which jobs he was the most and least hopeful about in the future.
“A job that I’m confident will not be that impacted is nurses,” he said in an interview on The Tucker Carlson Show. “I think people really want that deep human connection with a person in that time, no matter how good the advice of the AI is or the robot or whatever, like you’ll really want that.”
On the flip side, some white collar jobs won’t be so lucky: “I’m confident that a lot of current customer support that happens over a phone or computer, those people will lose their jobs and that’ll be better done by an AI,” he said.
As for jobs in programming, a field that’s already faced changes thanks to the new tech, Altman noted that AI tools have made coders far more productive, but the long-term impact is still unclear.
“There’s been huge demand for software. But if we fast forward five or 10 years, is it more jobs or less? That one I’m uncertain on.”
Healthcare remains the bright side of the labor market
As AI has driven up uncertainty in the graduate job market, recent Gen Z graduates have already taken note of the more secure healthcare careers as a result. And on top of shielding away the threat of AI, the healthcare industry has been a driving force in labor growth.
The economy is predicted to add 5.2 million jobs over the next decade, with projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that healthcare and social assistance will be the fastest-growing industry sector.
Fueled by an aging population and rising demand for long-term care, senior care and disability services are specifically projected to grow 21%, adding over 528,000 jobs by 2034.
But even healthcare’s resilience has its limits. In August 2025, the sector added 31,000 jobs, below its 12-month average of 42,000. With looming Medicaid cuts and broader economic headwinds, the question is whether healthcare can still hold its weight.
Still, the profession may be a step forward for more job security, especially as some tech leaders warn AI is already as good as entry-level workers and that it could halve white-collar jobs by 2030.
As Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Wired this June: “There’s a lot of things that we won’t want to do with a machine. You wouldn’t want a robot nurse—there’s something about the human empathy aspect of that care that’s particularly humanistic.”
