Costco CEO Ron Vachris says AI is not stealing workers’ jobs—it’s ‘elevating’ them

The rise of AI has brought sweeping—and often uneasy—predictions about the future of work, with some tech leaders warning that entire categories of jobs could disappear. Elon Musk, for example, believes that in as soon as 10 years time, work could be completely optional thanks to the rise of robotics.

But while some companies have already used AI as a justification for reducing headcounts, Costco’s CEO Ron Vachris is pushing back on that narrative. Technology, he said, is not degrading jobs—but rather improving them.

“We’ve not displaced people because the business is growing at a faster rate,” Vachris said at The Economic Club of Chicago earlier this month. “Those employees who were doing those tasks before have now elevated up to more of a forward-thinking role.”

That doesn’t mean Costco is resisting tech innovation. The retailer, which employs more than 341,000 people globally, has used AI to streamline operations across parts of the business, from pharmacy and gas stations to accounting and IT. But Vachris said the technology is overall intended to support employees, not eliminate the need for them.

“I don’t see AI making choices on items for Costco,” he added in the discussion, moderated by United Airlines President Brett Hart. “I don’t know that we’ll ever take that out of the hands of a skilled buyer. AI won’t be doing evaluations with our employees, but there is a great place for developing AI systems, and it’s going to make us a better company.”

In many ways, that approach appears to be paying off financially. Costco shares are up roughly 17% this year, giving the retailer a market capitalization exceeding $440 billion.

Costco has climbed to No. 12 on the Fortune 500—with revenue just over $250 billion in 2025, more than Microsoft, Chevron, and General Motors. And as the company continues to double down on its signature $1.50 hot dogs and $5 rotisserie chickens—plus humans at the cash register—Costco’s success is likely to continue.

Costco’s greatest long-term threat isn’t AI—it’s ‘losing our way’

Since its early roots in the 1970s, Costco has built a cult-like following among shoppers—with its paid members rising to 81 million strong in 2025. But at a time when competition remains fierce, protecting that culture—not necessarily keeping pace with AI—is among Costco’s greatest challenges. 

When asked about the company’s biggest threat, Vachris answered simply: “Us losing our way.”

“We have to stay as focused as we were when we had 200 warehouses,” he told Fortune in a 2024 company profile. “We can’t become arrogant. We can’t become comfortable.”

One area where Costco has remained steady is in its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As political pressure against DEI has intensified, many organizations quietly scaled back or abandoned their efforts. Costco has largely held the line, with Vachris and the company’s board arguing that a diverse workforce and supplier base strengthens talent recruitment and innovation, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. Shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal last year calling on Costco to evaluate risks tied to its DEI practices, with more than 98% of votes cast against it.

The company’s culture appears to resonate with employees, too. Costco has long boasted some of the strongest retention rates in retail: More than 55% of U.S. Costco employees have been with the company for more than five years, while roughly 23,000 employees have stayed for over 25 years.

Fortune reached out to Costco for further comment.

Like Costco, the CEOs of Delta and IBM are betting on human workers—not tech replacement

As companies like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft have cut thousands of jobs in recent years, some business leaders, like at Costco, are pushing back on the idea that artificial intelligence should primarily be used to shrink workforces. 

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he wants the technology to improve workers’ jobs—not eliminate them.

“I think it’s a mistake to call anything artificial,” Bastian told Fortune last month. “You want to scare people? Tell them that artificial intelligence is coming for you.” 

Instead, the Atlanta-based aviation company is focused on using AI to support workers as jobs evolve. Bastian added that business leaders need to lower the temperature around fears that AI will immediately replace workers.

“At the end of the day, we know those job skills are going to change, as it always has,” he added. “But one of the things with AI is it’s changing more rapidly than people anticipate. And you’ve got a lot of hype around it.”

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has similarly cautioned against using AI as a reason to freeze hiring, particularly for entry-level workers.

“People are talking about either layoffs or freezing hiring, but I actually want to say that we are the opposite,” Krishna told CNN in October. “I expect we are probably going to hire more people out of college over the next 12 months than we have in the past few years, so you’re going to see that.”

Still, the tension between AI optimism and workforce reductions remains difficult to ignore—especially as tech companies in particular race to invest in innovation. Just a week after Krishna’s comments, IBM announced plans to cut thousands of workers by the end of 2025 as it shifted focus to additional software and AI areas. A company spokesperson told Fortune at the time that the round of layoffs would impact a single-digit percentage of the company’s total workforce, and when combined with new hiring, would leave IBM’s U.S. headcount roughly flat.

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