Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang is reimagining the workplace, proposing that engineers receive AI tokens on top of their base salaries to deploy fleets of autonomous software agents, signaling a future where hundreds of thousands of digital coworkers could outnumber the company’s 42,000 humans. The move highlights both the promise of AI to boost productivity and the risks of labor displacement, as experts warn that software capable of executing complex, multi-step tasks could hollow out white-collar roles even as it drives demand for new tools
Nvidia Corp Chief Executive Jensen Huang proposed a new form of employee compensation on Monday that would give engineers “AI tokens” in addition to their base salaries, reflecting the growing role of artificial intelligence agents in the workplace.
Speaking at Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference, Huang said the tokens – units of computing power used to run AI tools and automate tasks – could effectively double an engineer’s productivity. “Engineers are going to make a few hundred thousand dollars a year, their base pay. I’m going to give them probably half of that on top of [their base pay] as tokens,” Huang said.
The tokens are designed to allow employees to deploy AI agents, software systems capable of completing complex, multi-step tasks autonomously. Huang has previously said Nvidia plans to operate hundreds of thousands of AI agents alongside its roughly 42,000 human employees.
The move highlights both the promise and the risks of AI in the workplace. Experts warn that AI agents could displace white-collar jobs. In a memo to investors, Howard Marks, founder of Oaktree Capital Management, described the technology’s autonomous capabilities as “an incredible leap ahead” that could shift the balance between human and machine labor.
Goldman Sachs has estimated AI could automate tasks accounting for 25% of all U.S. work hours, potentially boosting productivity by 15% while displacing 6% to 7% of jobs during adoption. “Risks are skewed toward greater displacement if AI proves more labor-displacing than prior technologies,” said Joseph Briggs, Goldman’s senior global economist.
Despite these concerns, Huang and other industry leaders say AI agents could drive demand for software rather than reduce it. “The number of C-compilers that we use, the number of Python programs, the number of instances are growing very, very fast – because the number of agents we have that use these tools are going up,” Huang said. Bruno Guicardi, founder of IT company CI&T, called the change a “paradigm shift,” noting that engineers can now direct computers in plain English, completing work previously requiring months in just days.
At the same time, companies face a “talent paradox,” with executives expecting both workforce reductions due to AI and ongoing talent shortages. Mercer Asia career practice leader Lewis Garrad said around 65% of executives expect 11% to 30% of their workforce to be redeployed or reskilled by 2026. Entry-level roles and tasks like data analysis or document processing are most vulnerable, experts said.
Analysts also warn that integrating AI into corporate workflows may be more challenging than deploying the technology. Roughly 80% to 85% of AI projects have failed since 2018, according to Intelligence Briefing founder Andreas Welsch. “It would be undesired to have hundreds of thousands of agents that create more problems than they solve,” he said.
Huang’s proposal signals a broader transformation of the workplace, where humans oversee fleets of AI agents to enhance productivity and drive new software demand, reshaping the future of labor and technology.
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