The impact of AI on the labor market

Automation is not new

Every major technological revolution — the steam engine, electricity, the computer — has destroyed jobs and created new ones. AI is no different, but faster and broader. Where earlier automation mainly affected physical and routine tasks, AI now threatens complex cognitive work as well.

Which roles are under pressure?

Research by McKinsey and the World Economic Forum points to the following sectors:

• Customer service — chatbots and voice AI replace first-line support staff
• Data entry and administration — AI processes forms, invoices, and reports faster and cheaper
• Basic texts — product descriptions, standard emails, and reports are increasingly generated
• Radiology and diagnostics — AI image analysis surpasses the average radiologist on some tasks
• Basic legal tasks — contract analysis and due diligence are increasingly being automated

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New roles that are emerging

AI also creates new jobs:

• AI trainer and prompt engineer — people who instruct and refine models
• AI ethicist and auditor — oversight of fairness, safety, and compliance
• AI integration specialist — implementing AI tools in business processes
• Human verifier — checking AI output in sectors where errors are not acceptable

The distribution of gains

A key question is who benefits from the productivity gains that AI delivers. Historically, the gains from automation do not automatically go to workers. Policy on taxation, education, and social security will determine how broadly the benefits are shared.

How do you prepare?

• Learn to work with AI tools, not alongside them
• Invest in skills that AI finds difficult to replicate: empathy, leadership, creativity, ethical judgment
• Keep learning — the half-life of technical knowledge is decreasing rapidly