CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut

As AI automates routine tasks and redefines entire roles, the tools are creating a new workplace survival test—one where workers must evolve, or risk being left in the dust. Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora warns that 90% of employees at big companies aren’t AI savvy—and it could determine the fate of their careers in the new world. “I think we’re back to a Darwinian moment where everybody has to figure out who’s really good,” Arora said recently during an episode of the 20VC podcast. “[Workers] have to learn. I can’t send them to university; there’s no course you can take in any school anywhere,” he added. “They have to be able to learn on their own.” And the leader of the $278 billion cybersecurity firm is already witnessing the fallout. Hiring has screeched to a halt as companies slash thousands of staffers in the name of AI—and tech-savvy talent will have the best shot at career success. Nearly 40% of employers are slashing staffers—and he’s recruiting at hackathons It’s estimated that 39% of business leaders have already made employees redundant due to leveraging AI, according to a 2025 Orgvue study. And some businesses have pushed ahead with big workforce cuts; Brian Armstrong’s Coinbase, Jack Dorsey’s Block, and Matthew Prince’s Cloudflare have all issued sweeping layoffs connected to AI. “Now, you’ve seen people like Brian Armstrong and Jack Dorsey go out and say, ‘I’m going to decimate my organization, and I’m going to start building from scratch,’” the Palo Alto CEO said. “They’ve gone to some version of 30% [to] 40% less people, because they’ve figured out there’s no redemption. ‘I can’t train these people, I’m going to just find the people who are going to come in and help me do this stuff.’” The other way employers are broaching the issue is by gradually rebuilding their teams with AI-fluent workers. In leading Palo Alto into the next era, Arora says he’s hiring “only through” ha