I have a feeling that PG doesn't understand automation. Automation is just a tool to increase work productivity (and, consequentially, profits and salaries). Automation doesn't change the nature of relationship between an employer and employees. The fact that a founder might need fewer employees due to automation only means that the moment when the founder will need to hire more people is shifted later in time (when the company grows) and the salaries of the employees will be higher because they will be required to work with automation tools and their work productivity will be higher.

Also, the more automation we have, the more people will work in the automation industry. In other words, people will still be hired, just from the side of automation supplier, not automation consumer. If a single founder can run a billion-dollar company, it means that the automation industry that enabled this remarkable achievement has grown big and gave work to many people.