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(SeaPRwire) – The growth of artificial intelligence has led to far-reaching—and frequently unsettling—forecasts about the future of employment, with certain tech leaders cautioning that whole job categories might vanish. Elon Musk, for instance, thinks that within as little as a decade, work could become entirely optional due to advances in robotics.
Yet even as some firms have already cited AI as a reason to cut staff numbers, Costco CEO Ron Vachris is challenging that narrative. According to him, technology isn’t devaluing jobs—it’s enhancing them instead.
“We’ve not displaced people because the business is growing at a faster rate,” Vachris said at The Economic Club of Chicago earlier this month. “Those employees who were doing those tasks before have now elevated up to more of a forward-thinking role.”
This doesn’t imply Costco is opposed to technological progress. The retail giant, which has over 341,000 employees worldwide, has utilized AI to optimize operations in various areas—including pharmacies, gas stations, accounting, and IT. However, Vachris noted that the technology is primarily meant to assist workers, not make them unnecessary.
“I don’t see AI making choices on items for Costco,” he added in the discussion, moderated by United Airlines President Brett Hart. “I don’t know that we’ll ever take that out of the hands of a skilled buyer. AI won’t be doing evaluations with our employees, but there is a great place for developing AI systems, and it’s going to make us a better company.”
In several respects, this strategy seems to be yielding financial benefits. Costco’s stock has risen about 17% this year, pushing the company’s market value above $440 billion.
Costco has moved up to the 12th spot on the 500 list—with 2025 revenue of just over $250 billion, surpassing Microsoft, Chevron, and General Motors. And as the company keeps doubling down on its iconic $1.50 hot dogs, $5 rotisserie chickens, and human cashiers, its success is expected to persist.
Costco’s biggest long-term threat isn’t AI—it’s ‘losing our way’
Since its founding in the 1970s, Costco has cultivated a devoted, almost cult-like following among customers—with its paid membership reaching 81 million in 2025. However, amid intense competition, safeguarding that culture (rather than keeping up with AI) is one of Costco’s most significant challenges.
When asked about the company’s biggest threat, Vachris answered simply: “Us losing our way.”
“We have to stay as focused as we were when we had 200 warehouses,” he told in a 2024 company profile. “We can’t become arrogant. We can’t become comfortable.”
Costco has stayed consistent in its dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As political pushback against DEI has grown stronger, many organizations have quietly reduced or dropped their DEI initiatives. But Costco has mostly stood firm: Vachris and the company’s board say a diverse workforce and supplier network boosts talent acquisition and innovation, per The Wall Street Journal. Last year, shareholders strongly rejected a proposal asking Costco to assess risks related to its DEI practices—over 98% voted against it.
Costco’s culture also seems to strike a chord with its employees. The retailer has long prided itself on having some of the highest retention rates in the retail industry: Over 55% of U.S. Costco workers have been with the company for five or more years, and around 23,000 employees have stayed for over two decades.
reached out to Costco for further comment.
Similar to Costco, Delta and IBM CEOs are betting on human workers—not tech replacement
While companies such as Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft have laid off thousands of employees in recent years, some business leaders—including those at Costco—are pushing back against the notion that AI should mainly be used to reduce staff sizes.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian stated that he wants AI to enhance workers’ roles, not do away with them.
“I think it’s a mistake to call anything artificial,” Bastian told last month. “You want to scare people? Tell them that artificial intelligence is coming for you.”
Instead, the Atlanta-based airline is focused on using AI to support employees as their jobs change. Bastian also noted that business leaders need to ease concerns about AI quickly replacing workers.
“At the end of the day, we know those job skills are going to change, as it always has,” he added. “But one of the things with AI is it’s changing more rapidly than people anticipate. And you’ve got a lot of hype around it.”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has also warned against using AI as an excuse to halt hiring, especially for entry-level positions.
“People are talking about either layoffs or freezing hiring, but I actually want to say that we are the opposite,” Krishna told CNN in October. “I expect we are probably going to hire more people out of college over the next 12 months than we have in the past few years, so you’re going to see that.”
However, the conflict between AI enthusiasm and workforce cuts is hard to overlook—especially as tech firms race to invest in innovation. Just a week after Krishna’s remarks, IBM revealed plans to lay off thousands of workers by the end of 2025 as it shifts its focus to more software and AI-related areas. A company spokesperson told then that the layoffs would affect a single-digit percentage of the total workforce, and when paired with new hires, IBM’s U.S. employee count would remain roughly the same.
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