Tech companies say they are putting in place systems to prevent AI being used for criminal or other malign purposes, and insist the new technology will create more jobs than it destroys

Automation doesn't create more jobs than it replaces, if it did there would be no point. In some cases it removes bottlenecks which allows for greater scale which in turn creates jobs, but these new jobs often require different skillsets from the ones displaced.

You're not really allowed to criticize them for this when your economic system encourages this exact behavior.