How will AI impact the job market?

Elon Musk, like many other thought leaders, maintains that artificial intelligence will get humans to a point where “no job is needed.” 

Is he – and the others – actually right?

By the numbers: According to a recent ResumeBuilder survey of 750 business leaders at companies that either currently use AI or plan to use it in 2024, the AI-pocalypse is already beginning. 37% of those surveyed said that AI replaced workers in 2023, and 44% report there will be layoffs in 2024 due to efficiencies created by the technology.

• The top AI use-cases at the companies surveyed were customer support, research, and creating summaries of meetings or documents.

And therein lies the backbone of the opposing argument. Many industry thought leaders opposite Musk believe that the data marking and predicting AI-induced layoffs reflects fear more than reality.

For example: while positions like research and data analysis are ripe for automation, companies will likely still need someone to prompt the AI, make sense of the results, and take action. Marc Cenedella, founder of Leet Resumes and Ladders, compares this shift to mid-century office culture, when the efficiency of word processors eliminated entire floors of typists.

📝 Bottom line: Societally transformative inventions have been created and widely adopted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution (radio, TV, cars, GPS, assembly lines, computers, etc.), and the workforce has a history of malleability. Translation: most of us will probably be fine in the future – and if we’re not, we’ll likely adapt.