As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape global industries, one Silicon Valley company, Box, offers a counter-narrative to the prevailing fear of widespread job displacement. While many technology firms have announced significant layoffs, citing AI as a factor in increasing efficiency, Box has embraced the technology as a catalyst for growth and the creation of new roles, anticipating an increase in its workforce by early next year.
Aaron Levie, the 41-year-old chief executive of Box, a company specializing in software for data storage and management, recognized the transformative potential of AI four years ago. This led Box to embark on a strategic overhaul, integrating AI capabilities directly into its product offerings. The company began developing and selling AI-powered solutions designed to automate various business processes, such as the review and approval of complex contracts. Concurrently, Box initiated internal programs, encouraging employees to adapt their workflows and leverage AI tools within their daily tasks.
This internal and external focus on AI necessitated a restructuring of Box’s talent needs. Last autumn, the company introduced a new position: Senior Director of A.I., Data, and Integration. This role was designed to harmonize Box’s internal systems and data infrastructure, thereby enhancing employees’ ability to effectively utilize AI. This was just one of 13 entirely new categories of jobs that Box has established in response to the rise of AI, encompassing titles such as A.I. Architect, A.I. Solutions Manager, and A.I. Platform Leader. This expansion is projected to increase Box’s total employee count from 2,900 at the beginning of the current year to more than 3,000 by early next year.
Mr. Levie articulated a dual rationale for this expansion. “We ourselves are selling A.I. to our customers, so that’s actually causing us to need to hire more people,” he explained. “And as a user of A.I., we’re getting new forms of productivity that’s also causing us to hire people.” This perspective presents a nuanced view of AI’s impact on employment, highlighting its potential as a job creator rather than solely a job displacer.
This approach stands in contrast to a broader trend observed across the technology sector. Companies like Meta and Coinbase have publicly attributed recent workforce reductions, involving thousands of employees, partly to the efficiencies gained through AI. There is a pervasive concern that advanced AI, capable of generating code, answering complex questions, and performing sophisticated analytical tasks, will increasingly automate and potentially replace human roles in fields such as computer programming and engineering management.
However, Box’s experience suggests a more intricate labor market dynamic. The integration of AI can also generate demand for new specialized skills. For instance, the proliferation of AI-generated code has spurred a significant increase in the need for cybersecurity experts to vet and secure these new digital assets. Similarly, major technology players like Google are actively recruiting more engineers to assist their customers in integrating AI functionalities into existing systems and workflows, illustrating a parallel track of job creation alongside automation.
Despite these emerging opportunities, the extent to which AI-driven job creation will offset job losses remains a subject of considerable debate. Stephan Meier, a professor of business strategy at Columbia Business School, noted the inherent uncertainties. He cautioned that it is currently unclear whether these newly created AI-specific roles represent permanent positions or are merely temporary adjustments in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Furthermore, he highlighted potential challenges in finding workers with the specific skill sets required for these specialized roles.
Professor Meier also provided historical context, reminding observers that technological advancements have a long track record of generating new employment categories. He drew parallels to the 1970s and 1980s, when the widespread adoption of computers in workplaces led to the establishment of entirely new information technology (IT) departments. “There is now I.T., there is a chief information officer and so on,” Mr. Meier observed, underscoring how “completely new jobs, new businesses, new degrees were created” in response to previous technological shifts.
Box, co-founded by Mr. Levie in 2005, operates largely behind the scenes, providing essential software for companies to securely store, manage, and collaborate on documents and other critical data. The company boasts a diverse customer base of over 100,000 entities, including federal agencies and prominent financial institutions like Morgan Stanley. Box became a publicly traded company in 2015.
The company has historically maintained a conservative and deliberate approach to hiring. Unlike many of its tech industry peers, Box largely avoided the aggressive hiring sprees that characterized the pandemic era. From 2019 to 2022, its workforce expanded by a modest 20 percent, reaching approximately 2,500 employees. In contrast, numerous competitors, many of whom have subsequently undertaken significant layoffs, doubled or even tripled their employee numbers during the same period. Jessica Swank, Box’s chief people officer, reiterated the company’s commitment to its workforce, stating, “We have never done any kind of broad-scale layoffs, and that remains a huge commitment of ours.”
The widespread public introduction of generative AI, spearheaded by OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in 2022, ignited a surge of interest and investment in the technology. Mr. Levie expressed his excitement regarding the capabilities of this new generation of AI. In response, Box has actively embedded AI functionalities into its core software, developing features that allow the technology to perform tasks such as drafting documents, further enhancing productivity and automation for its users.
These strategic moves appear to be yielding positive business outcomes. Box reported an 11 percent increase in revenue during its most recent quarter compared to the previous year, marking its fastest growth rate since 2022. However, the company’s stock performance has also reflected broader market anxieties regarding AI. Box’s stock has seen a decline of approximately 7 percent this year, partly due to investor concerns about whether AI could ultimately diminish the need for Box’s established software solutions.
Mr. Levie maintains a confident outlook, asserting his belief that enterprises will continue to procure third-party software solutions rather than attempting to develop their own using AI. He posits that commercially available software is likely to offer superior security, reliability, and dedicated support. In line with this conviction, Box is making substantial investments not only in integrating AI into its product suite but also in the newly created AI-centric roles, viewing them as integral and long-term components of its operational strategy.
The dynamic and rapidly evolving nature of AI models, particularly in how they process information and respond to queries, suggests an ongoing need for specialized expertise. Mr. Levie explained that as AI models advance, Box’s customers will require continuous assistance in understanding, implementing, and optimizing these new iterations. “It’s kind of a question of, when does A.I. slow down?” Mr. Levie pondered, suggesting that a slowdown in AI development would be the moment when “maybe you have some sort of sustaining, plateauing” of hiring.
Among the specific new roles being introduced are “forward deployed engineers,” designed to assist customers who desire to leverage AI but may lack the requisite technical expertise to do so independently. Another critical function is that of “A.I. business automation engineers,” who are embedded within the IT department to support internal colleagues in utilizing AI to boost productivity and reduce repetitive, mundane tasks, thereby enhancing job satisfaction and efficiency.
Box has also established positions focused on the critical evaluation of AI models. Sidharth Srinivasan, 23, who joined Box full-time last year after graduating from Stanford University, is one such employee. His role involves meticulously measuring the performance characteristics of various AI models, providing crucial data to help customers identify the most suitable models for their specific operational needs. Mr. Srinivasan reflected on the novelty of his work: “If I talked to myself two years ago, and I told myself I was working on A.I. evals, I would be like, what is that?” He added, “With any technological innovation, the type of work that you have to do to adapt to that is just slightly different.”
Despite AI’s increasing proficiency in code generation, Box reports that its hiring pace for core software engineers has not diminished. Mr. Levie elaborated on this, explaining that with the advent of AI agents capable of performing tasks autonomously, a single software engineer can now manage these agents to achieve outcomes that previously required an entire team of engineers. This paradigm shift, he argued, magnifies the impact and value of each additional engineer, making their recruitment even more strategically advantageous. “A role that we’re just adding more of is in core engineering,” Mr. Levie affirmed. “Now that we can basically build way more features for our customers, it actually for us is attractive to have more engineers doing that.”
The enhanced productivity afforded by AI has enabled Box to justify investments in hiring for roles that were previously considered cost-prohibitive. For instance, the company has begun recruiting employees dedicated to marketing to highly specific industries, an initiative that was previously deemed too labor-intensive to be feasible. With AI streamlining many associated tasks, Mr. Levie noted, “Now, you’re hiring one or two to do the work of 10 because you can finally afford to do that work.” This demonstrates how AI, by increasing efficiency, can unlock new strategic opportunities and create specialized roles that were previously out of reach for businesses.
Why This Matters
The case of Box provides a vital perspective on the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and the global labor market. In an era frequently characterized by anxieties over AI-driven job displacement, Box’s experience illustrates that advanced technology can also be a powerful engine for job creation and workforce expansion. This challenges a simplistic narrative of AI solely as a threat to employment, presenting instead a more complex picture where new skills and roles emerge in response to technological innovation.
For businesses, Box’s strategy highlights the potential for proactive adaptation. By integrating AI into core products and internal operations, companies may not only boost efficiency and revenue but also cultivate a dynamic ecosystem of specialized jobs. This implies that successful navigation of the AI revolution might hinge on embracing the technology as a partner in growth, rather than viewing it merely as a tool for cost reduction through automation.
For workers and policymakers, Box’s story underscores the increasing importance of continuous learning and skill adaptation. The emergence of roles like “A.I. evals” and “forward deployed engineers” demonstrates that the jobs of the future may require entirely new competencies. Understanding these shifts is crucial for educational institutions and governments to prepare the workforce for an AI-driven economy, emphasizing training in AI integration, management, and ethical application. While AI undoubtedly brings challenges of job transition, Box offers a tangible example of how embracing innovation can also lead to new opportunities and sustained economic growth.