Silicon Valley tech expert explains what workers need to know as AI-driven layoffs are on the rise

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Salesforce CEO made the announcement Tuesday about job cuts in a podcast saying he slashed thousands of jobs because of artificial intelligence.

"Salesforce is not the only one. I mean, Microsoft did this before. Meta did it and most of the basic programming is done by AI. The same thing with Google, Alphabet," said Ahmed Banafa.

Banafa is a tech expert at San Jose State University. He says while many companies have cut jobs, they're often times replacing them with new ones done by people who have AI skills.

Banafa says this so-called selective hiring is something many companies view as a good investment.

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"They find that is going to replace a certain number of workers and staff, and this is reflected as cost cutting," he said.

AI's impact on the job market here in the Bay Area is being felt in a multitude of ways.

But employment is only one area of the economy where it's having an effect according to real estate experts.

"Million square feet with OpenAI. Databricks took 300,000 in Sunnyvale just lately. These numbers don't exist anywhere else in the world," said Mark Ritchie.

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Ritchie specializes in commercial real estate here in the Bay Area. He tells ABC7 News while office vacancies in places like downtown San Francisco remain near all-time highs, there's been a noticeable increase in AI companies taking out massive leases.

Despite that reality though, Ritchie doesn't think those leases will be able to completely close the vacancy gap - at least not in the short term.

"Even with the large-scale employment and leases we see with AI compared to the previous tech booms and the scale of that hiring and those leases, this is not that large," said Ritchie.

With the industry booming, Banafa says we're likely to see even more AI disruption in the years to come. That's why he encourages everyone to become versed in the new technology at least somewhat - in order to make them more competitive in the job market.

"AI is not going to take your job. The people who know how to use AI will take your job," said Banafa.