Sam Altman said OpenAI was planning to 'dramatically slow down' its pace of hiring

"We are planning to dramatically slow down how quickly we grow because we think we'll be able to do so much more with fewer people,"

"What I think we shouldn't do, and what I hope other companies won't do either, is hire super aggressively, then realize all of a sudden AI can do a lot of stuff, and you need fewer people, and have to have some sort of very uncomfortable conversation,"

"So I think the right approach for us will be to hire more slowly but keep hiring."

OpenAI plans to dramatically slow the pace of hiring while continuing to add employees, anticipating that AI will allow the company to accomplish more with fewer people. The company intends to avoid aggressive hiring followed by reductions by growing headcount more slowly rather than pausing hiring entirely. OpenAI does not expect to replace human workers wholesale. U.S. labor-market indicators show cooling: unemployment in November 2025 rose to its highest level since 2021, job openings fell 37% from the 2022 peak, openings per unemployed worker declined, and long-term and young-worker unemployment worsened.

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