Four prominent AI researchers said Wednesday that within five to six years, AI could help the world announce the eradication of illiteracy, arguing that fear, not automation, is the biggest threat AI poses to jobs today. Speaking at the AI4 2026 conference, the panel included Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, ImageNet creator Fei-Fei Li, and DeepLearning.AI founder Andrew Ng, moderated by Washington Post Intelligence Deputy Editor Yun-Hee Kim. Li, also chief executive of World Labs, said AI as a tool could create a headline announcing the eradication of illiteracy in five years. Hinton, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, said the technology is changing the nature of jobs rather than eliminating them, citing a health service caseworker whose task of drafting responses now takes minutes instead of about half an hour. The panelists said only about 1.5% of jobs have been adversely affected by AI so far, compared with claims that as much as half the workforce has been reshaped. Hinton said companies developing AI have a vested interest in saying it won't go well and won't cause much unemployment. He noted demand for software engineers has grown as AI takes over routine code generation, and that contact centers have become less difficult to reach as AI absorbs repetitive calls.