AI TRENDS | Meta Executive Alex Schultz: AI Productivity Is Vital Amid Population Decline

Meta Chief Data Officer Alex Schultz said society urgently needs AI-driven productivity gains in the face of a coming “population collapse.” According to Sina Finance, Schultz made the remarks Wednesday at an AI Future Summit hosted by a British media outlet, saying falling birth rates could leave the global population substantially smaller in 50 years. He asked how society would care for older people and make full use of the available workforce. The global population is expected to peak as early as 2064, while the working-age population is projected to shrink faster as lifespans lengthen and birth rates fall. Schultz said AI is already speeding up software engineering and helping lawyers save time by anticipating courtroom questions. At Meta, AI agents can autonomously handle more than 10% of tasks involving routine data warehouse alert monitoring. He also said fewer than half the people on his team use AI effectively, and that some users consume tokens without producing clear value. Meta has invested billions of dollars in AI as it pursues industry leaders OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Last month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta’s MuseWonder model had caught up with competitors and joined the frontier-model ranks. The company’s consumer-facing Muse agent has been downloaded millions of times since launching in September. Last week, Meta announced plans to raise an additional $95 billion to support higher spending. Schultz said he was slow to adopt AI before OpenClaw popularized vibe coding earlier this year. Responding to concerns that AI will cause widespread job losses, he said tools change the content of jobs rather than eliminate them, and that productivity gains can create new work. Opposition to AI data-center construction in U.S. communities was among the factors behind voters rejecting Republican incumbents in Tuesday’s midterm elections.