Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said artificial intelligence could allow large companies to operate with about 20% fewer employees as it takes over administrative and management tasks.

According to Sina Finance, Schmidt said on a podcast aired this week with Norway’s sovereign wealth fund head Nicolai Tangen that AI agents could eliminate much of the coordination work, and that companies should manage employees’ transitions in a “legal and humane” way. He illustrated his view with a hypothetical company of 10,000 employees, saying several thousand might not be needed.

Schmidt also described a friend who cut 20% of the workforce while the company’s business was growing. The account closely matches Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, whom Schmidt did not name. Cloudflare announced plans in May this year to cut more than 1,100 jobs despite revenue growth of 34%, as part of its shift toward AI. Prince described most of the affected employees as “measurers” working in management, compliance, and administration. In a September interview, he said AI cut the time a team of about 20 spent preparing investor materials before earnings reports from two weeks to three minutes.