Booking’s CEO says AI will have a ‘human cost’ — and he wants every employee to be ‘AI literate’ in case their job goes away

AI could make building your vacation itinerary easier — Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel says it could also make some careers harder.

Fogel, the chief executive of the company behind booking.com, discussed AI’s potential impact on workers in an episode of the “Grit” podcast released Monday. “Unfortunately, we’re always thinking, ‘What are the changes in our workforce going to be due to the benefits of AI?'” he said. “There’s a cost, a human cost to that.” Fogel’s comments come as executives continue to chart very different paths for human employment as AI improves.

Some companies have explicitly tied AI to job cuts, while Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei famously warned that 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs could be eliminated in the next five years.

Others — like Grindr CEO George Arison — said the tech allows companies to increase output without making major changes to headcount.

Fogel said he had made clear to Booking’s head of human resources that he wants “every single employee” to become “AI literate” and able to use the tools. “If such things happen that this person’s job role is no longer necessary, and we can find another spot for that person, at least that person now has been developed so they will have a better opportunity going forward somewhere else,” he said.

A Booking Holdings spokesperson told Business Insider that the company’s push to make AI literacy a “foundational capability” is ongoing, not a onetime program with a fixed end date.

Fogel said the employment challenge won’t be limited to Booking.

He predicted investment banks, for example, could hire significantly fewer entry-level analysts in the future as AI takes on more work. “I think we’ll have some significant rough waters ahead of us,” he said.