A new study from three Stanford University researchers, released on Tuesday, highlights mounting evidence that the widespread use of generative AI is affecting job opportunities for U.S. workers. The report identifies “early, large-scale evidence” suggesting that the AI revolution is significantly and disproportionately impacting entry-level workers in the American job market.
Shreya Ghosal and Dylan Butts for CNBC:
The study analyzed payroll records from millions of American workers, generated by ADP, the largest payroll software firm in the U.S.
Most notably, the findings revealed that workers between the ages of 22 and 25 in jobs most exposed to AI — such as customer service, accounting, and software development — have seen a 13% decline in employment since 2022.
By contrast, employment for more experienced workers in the same fields, and for workers of all ages in less-exposed occupations such as nursing aides, has stayed steady or grown. Jobs for young health aides, for example, rose faster than their older counterparts.
Front-line production and operations supervisors’ roles also showed an increase in employment for young workers, though this growth was smaller than that for workers over the age of 35.
Young workers were said to be especially vulnerable because AI can replace “codified knowledge,” or “book-learning” that comes from formal education. On the other hand, AI may be less capable of replacing knowledge that comes from years of experience.
The researchers also noted that not all uses of AI are associated with declines in employment. In occupations where AI complements work and is used to help with efficiency, there have been muted changes in employment rates.
MacDailyNews Take: To paraphrase Heraclitus: The only constant is change.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” — Steve Jobs
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