Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu: How is it that many students in US ‘hate’ AI, it does not help …

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has shared concerns about growing public frustration around AI in the United States. Sharing a post on X recently, Vembu questioned why negative sentiment toward AI is increasing even in the country despite leading global AI development. “How is it that in the US, the AI leader, a good part of the population, even a lot of college students, have come to hate AI?” Vembu wrote in the post. He further stated that companies blaming layoffs on AI is also adding to public anger. “It does not help that companies are blaming job losses on AI, which is both convenient and as an added bonus, makes a company look visionary,” Vembu said.

Sridhar Vembu says economic pressures are increasing

Supposedly rejecting layoffs because of AI, Sridhar Vembu said the current layoffs seen across industries are more closely linked to economic pressure than artificial intelligence itself. “The layoffs are related to rising cost pressures - we experience those pressures too so we know this first hand. The economic picture is getting grimmer,” he wrote.


According to Vembu, large AI investments have temporarily supported the US economy, but he warned that the trend may not continue forever. “The AI investment bubble has kept the US economy afloat but that can only go on for so long,” he said.

Sridhar Vembu: We are witnessing gradual collapse of post World War 2 global economic and political order

In the post, Sridhar Vembu linked the current economic situation to deeper global structural issues that began years ago. “Zooming out, I believe what we are witnessing is the gradual collapse of the post World War 2 global economic and political order,” he wrote.


Vembu added that the process had already started during the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and said technological advances alone may not solve larger economic problems.


“That is why I said ‘zoom out’, think in decades. Note that the iPhone-unleashed mobile revolution did not prevent the GFC. AI will not magically cure global imbalances,” he said.

He ended the post by warning about difficult economic conditions ahead. “We must prepare for tough times ahead. I would be happy to be proved wrong,” Vembu concluded.