Here's a quote that's going to make some people furious and other people nod along:
"The reality is most people don't enjoy their jobs."
That's Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, the AI search engine backed by SoftBank, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos. He said it on the "All In" podcast, filmed at Nvidia's GTC conference last week and published this morning.
His argument goes like this: AI will displace jobs. But those displaced workers won't just sit around. They'll use AI tools to start their own "mini businesses" - side hustles, creative ventures, small operations that let them pay their bills while actually enjoying what they do.
"Even if there is temporary job displacement to deal with, that sort of glorious future is what we should look forward to," he said.
The part he's right about
People are already doing this. Business Insider has documented side hustlers using AI to make real money selling pitch decks, writing children's books, providing translation services, and building resumes. Vibe coding - where you describe an app and AI builds it - is turning non-technical people into software creators.
And the SBE Council's latest survey found that 82% of small business employers are now using AI or AI-enabled tools. Over 70% report increased productivity. Roughly half say they're seeing direct revenue growth or cost savings from AI.
The tools are there. People are using them. Some are making money.
The part he's glossing over
Srinivas runs a company valued at $20 billion. He's speaking from the stage at a conference for GPU manufacturers. When he says "start your own mini business," he's not talking to someone who just lost their $18/hour customer service job and has rent due Friday.
Starting a business - even a small one, even an AI-powered one - requires some combination of savings, skills, risk tolerance, and time. Not everyone has those. The people most likely to be displaced by AI (administrative workers, entry-level customer support, junior developers) are often the least equipped to launch a venture.
There's also a math problem. If AI really does displace millions of workers and they all start small businesses... who's buying? Consumer spending depends on people having jobs. If the job market contracts faster than the small business economy can absorb displaced workers, you don't get a boom. You get a lot of people with Shopify stores and no customers.
What this actually means for small business owners
If you already run a business, the Srinivas prediction is mostly good news. It means:
- More skilled freelancers available for project-based work
- More AI-literate people in the labor pool
- More competition (which is less fun)
- More tools getting built for small operators
If you're thinking about starting a business, AI tools genuinely do lower the barrier. You can build a website, create marketing materials, handle customer inquiries, and manage finances with a fraction of the staff or budget required five years ago.
But "lower barrier" doesn't mean "no barrier." You still need a real idea, real customers, and the ability to execute when things get messy - which AI is still bad at.
The verdict
Srinivas isn't wrong that AI will create entrepreneurship opportunities. It already is. But calling mass job displacement a path to a "glorious future" is the kind of thing you say when you're worth billions and your company is doing the displacing.
The small business boom is real. Whether it's big enough to absorb the people who lose their jobs? That's the question nobody at GTC wanted to answer.
Sources: Business Insider (March 24, 2026); "All In" Podcast / Nvidia GTC (March 2026); SBE Council Small Business Tech Use Survey (March 2026)