Another brick in the wall (Part 4) AI could create 78 million more jobs than it eliminates by 2030report As AGI talk sparks job loss fears, new WEF report projects AI-driven net job growth by 2030. Benj Edwards Jan 10, 2025 12:52 pm | 36 Credit: Moor Studio via Getty Images Credit: Moor Studio via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Wednesday, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Future of Jobs Report 2025, with CNN immediately highlighting the finding that 40 percent of companies plan workforce reductions due to AI automation. But the report's broader analysis paints a far more nuanced picture than CNN's headline suggests: It finds that AI could create 170 million new jobs globally while eliminating 92 million positions, resulting in a net increase of 78 million jobs by 2030."Half of employers plan to re-orient their business in response to AI," writes the WEF in the report. "Two-thirds plan to hire talent with specific AI skills, while 40% anticipate reducing their workforce where AI can automate tasks."The survey collected data from 1,000 companies that employ 14 million workers globally. The WEF conducts its employment analysis every two years to help policymakers, business leaders, and workers make decisions about hiring trends.The new report points to specific skills that will dominate hiring by 2030. Companies ranked AI and big data expertise, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy as the three most in-demand skill sets.The WEF identified AI as the biggest potential job creator among new technologies, with 86 percent of companies expecting AI to transform their operations by 2030.Declining job categoriesThe WEF report also identifies specific job categories facing decline. Postal service clerks, executive secretaries, and payroll staff top the list of shrinking roles, with changes driven by factors including (but not limited to) AI adoption. And for the first time, graphic designers and legal secretaries appear among the fastest-declining positions, which the WEF tentatively links to generative AI's expanding capabilities in creative and administrative work.Despite planned workforce reductions, the WEF expects human-machine collaboration to define the workplace more than outright worker replacement. The report shows that 77 percent of surveyed firms will launch retraining programs to help current workers collaborate with AI systems between 2025 and 2030. About 70 percent plan to hire specialists who can design AI tools, while 62 percent seek employees skilled at working alongside these systems.The findings arrive as the WEF prepares for its annual meeting in Davos later this month, where AI's impact on the global workforce will take center stage in discussions among world leaders and executives.Longer-term AI jobs outlookSurveys aside, it's too soon to say for certain whether AI will have a net positive or negative effect on employment, but it's a safe bet that it will trigger a shift in how knowledge workers do their jobs. While the shift may be subtle over time, some people think it could be far more profound.In 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned to the press that AI could replace the labor of the "median human" worker, suggesting that many jobs could be automated in the future. His company is currently on a quest to create not only artificial general intelligence (AGI) as a well-rounded worker but also "superintelligence," which would ostensibly far surpass human intellectual capability.To address employment challenges from the development of these new automation technologies, Altman has been a proponent of exploring solutions like universal basic income (UBI), which could provide a base level of money to every American citizen to supplement or replace job-related income. He has funded significant trials to study the impact of basic income, including one of the largest randomized basic income experiments.Altman's projections are still hypothetical, but that has not stopped general angst over the potential impact of AI on jobs in the near future. It's an unresolved issue that we'll continue to cover over time.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 36 Comments