CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut

As AI automates routine tasks and redefines entire roles, the tools are creating a new workplace survival test—one where workers must evolve, or risk being left in the dust. Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora warns that 90% of employees at big companies aren’t AI savvy—and it could determine the fate of their careers in the new world.

And the leader of the $278 billion cybersecurity firm is already witnessing the fallout. Hiring has screeched to a halt as companies slash thousands of staffers in the name of AI—and tech-savvy talent will have the best shot at career success.  It’s estimated that 39% of business leaders have already made employees redundant due to leveraging AI, according to a 2025 Orgvue study. 

The other way employers are broaching the issue is by gradually rebuilding their teams with AI-fluent workers. In leading Palo Alto into the next era, Arora says he’s hiring “only through” hackathons to bolster tech skills among his 21,000-strong workforce.   CEOs say it’s sink or swim in the AI era 

The Palo Alto CEO’s forecast reflects a growing concern among business leaders: the AI era will be a sink-or-swim moment for workers, with adaptability becoming the new career currency. No one is immune from the tech transformation—not even the CEOs calling the shots. 

Google leader Sundar Pichai has cautioned that no career path is fully protected from AI’s disruption, advising professionals to take matters into their own hands.  “People will need to adapt, and then there will be areas where it will impact some jobs. So, as a society, I think we need to be having those conversations,” Pichai told the BBC in a 2025 interview.

Micha Kaufman, the CEO of freelance marketplace Fiverr, also issued a warning to professionals: the tech is changing and automating every single role, all the way up to C-suite. And he echoes Pichai in also believing that his coveted, top job isn’t even safe from the AI shift. It’s essential that employees do more than simply talk about the tech—they need to experiment with it, develop their skills, and make it part of their everyday work.

And while Nvidia billionaire Jensen Huang doesn’t personally believe that AI can replace his role, he does recognize that competition comes with tech-savvy talent.  “It is unlikely most people will lose a job to AI,” Huang said during an interview at the Stanford Graduate School of Business earlier this year. “It is most likely that most people will lose their job to somebody who uses AI. And so we have to make sure that everybody uses AI.”

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