Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora: It is mistake to believe that AI productivity gains automatically means fewer employees, in fact for engineers ...

Nikesh Arora the CEO of cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, has pushed back against the widespread belief that artificial intelligence will automatically reduce the need for human workers. According to a report by business insider, speaking at the New York Times’ Hard Fork podcast, Arora called it a ‘fallacy’ to assume that productivity gains from AI means fewer employees. He further argued that while AI can made development and testing more efficient, companies will use those gains to tackle long-delayed product roadmaps and business transformations, not simply cut staff. “No, I need more,” he said. “The fallacy is that organizations are going to get 30, 40, 50, 60% more productive … so we need less people.”This view contrasts with other tech leaders such as Block’s Jack Dorsey and Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, who have said AI is already reshaping staffing needs and replacing certain roles.Arora also noted that most technologists have a ‘feature request list longer than their arm’. He feels that AI will enable companies to clear this backlog and also create capacity to build more products and services rather than shrinking the teams.Also addressing the issue of AI-related layoffs, Arora suggested that some companies are cutting jobs to create capacity for new hires with different skill sets. “That capacity allows me to hire more people and make room for people that I need who have the newer skill set,” he explained.Despite industry-wide cuts, Palo Alto Networks has continued to expand. The company added 959 employees in the first two quarters of fiscal 2026, according to its latest filings. While the growth isn’t directly attributed to AI, Arora’s comments highlight a more optimistic view of how AI can reshape workforces.Earlier this year, Arora also addressed the issue of AI threats to the software sector. When asked by threat to software as a sector due to the threat of automation by AI, Nikesh Arora said:“There’s a fear that the software industry is under attack from AI — it will make software easier and faster to build, and therefore reduce the need for traditional software spending. That may be true in some subsectors. If your product is purely analytical that can be recreated easily using AI, there could be disruption. If your system of work can be automated by agents, there is risk.”He also dismissed the idea that cybersecurity could be a collateral damage in the AI wave.