Can AI Be A Solution To America’s Workforce Challenges?

One does not have to look far for forecasts that AI will lead to widespread, prolonged job loss. In a recent open letter, for example, Bill Gates compared the effects of AI to the Great Depression, with the only difference being that employment eventually recovered from that period. Gates’ dire predictions may or may not prove right over the very long term (I’d bet on him not being right), but the data today points to a different possibility: AI tools can help solve the workforce challenges that are emerging amid this economic transition. As I argue in a recent paper published by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, private and public investments in AI-enabled skills training would help match workers with the skills that businesses increasingly expect.

Let’s start with the evidence. The latest data does not show any evidence of widespread AI-driven job market displacement, though this is an area with lots of ongoing research. Joint research by Ramp and Revelio suggests that high-intensity AI adopting businesses are hiring more than low-intensity AI adopters. A recent working paper by Bharat Chandar and Bouke Klein Teeselink suggests that employment growth at AI adopting firms may primarily come from hiring of senior workers, in some cases at the expense of junior workers.

There is clear evidence, however, that the tasks firms expect workers to perform within jobs is changing. For instance, job postings are increasingly listing AI as a required skill. And these shifts are becoming more widespread, moving from businesses within the IT sector to many other sectors of the economy.

Read the full Forbes article.
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Robert Seamans is Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and Director of the Center for the Future of Management