Generative AI is reshaping how people think about work, with a broader and faster impact than past technologies, affecting cognitive work and parts of the white-collar labour market, though the most dramatic effects on employment remain more potential than fully realised. Dandan Zhang, a Professor in Economics and Deputy Dean at the National School of Development (NSD) and Deputy Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, Peking University, argues that no country is likely to slow its investment in AI. The real policy challenge is to make the transition employment-friendly by identifying skills most at risk, adapting education and retraining, and strengthening safety nets. Zhang delivered the speech for TAIXUE, a TED-like initiative by New Economist Think Tank, with the video uploaded on 10 June 2026. On 30 November 2022, ChatGPT was officially released. Zhang examines whether technological progress inevitably leads to unemployment, noting that over the past 100 years, technological revolutions including electrification, computerisation, and automation sparked job anxieties but reached a state of employment equilibrium.