The number of software engineering positions reaches a three-year high, and Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, says the AI unemployment theory "is all fake."

According to 1M AI News monitoring, Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the venture capital firm a16z, reposted a Business Insider article on X, adding that the narrative of “AI causing unemployment” is “all fake.” He said the productivity surge brought by AI will translate into a surge in demand and ultimately create many new jobs. He cited three driving factors: a recovery from the post-pandemic correction of overhiring by employers, a recovery from the post-pandemic rate-hike shock, and the release of demand elasticity driven by efficiency gains.

The reposted article cited statistics from TrueUp, a tech recruiting data company. TrueUp tracks more than 260k open positions at about 9,000 tech companies, showing that current software engineering roles exceed 67,000— the highest level in more than three years, roughly double the trough in mid-2023. Since 2026 to date, the number of openings has grown by about 30%.

TrueUp founder Amit Taylor said: “Many of the claims that ‘AI is replacing engineers’ are not supported by hiring data—at least not right now.” He noted that AI-related roles are seeing “explosive growth,” but competition for entry-level positions is indeed fiercer, because the number of people studying computer science has increased significantly. “Jobs haven’t disappeared, but the competition is much more intense than it was five years ago.”