Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant promise or a tool reserved for technology labs. It is making its way into offices, banks, hospitals, design studios, newsrooms, law firms, customer service centers, and administrative departments. And the International Monetary Fund has just put another alarming figure on the table: Up to 60% of jobs in advanced economies could be affected by AI.
That doesn't mean that six out of every ten workers will be laid off. It means something more complex: millions of jobs could be transformed, partially automated, or, in certain cases, eliminated because a substantial portion of their tasks could be performed by artificial intelligence systems.
The paradox is enormous. The very same technology that is driving multibillion-dollar investments and helping to sustain global economic growth could also become one of the greatest forces of labor market restructuring since the Industrial Revolution. The IMF estimates that AI could boost the potential growth of economies, but warns that this benefit will come with profound changes in employment, wages, and the distribution of wealth.
Skilled jobs are no longer protected
Traditional automation primarily targeted physical and repetitive tasks. Artificial intelligence changes that logic.
Now it can also write reports, analyze documents, program software, translate, summarize files, process medical images, serve customers, develop advertising campaigns, and produce designs. This puts pressure on occupations that for decades seemed relatively secure because they required a college education or specialized knowledge.
The IMF estimates that around 60% of jobs in advanced economies are subject to some degree of transformation by AI, compared with about 40% in emerging economies and about 26% in low-income countries. For about half of the jobs at risk in wealthy countries, technology could increase productivity; for the other half, it could reduce the demand for labor, put downward pressure on wages, or render certain tasks unnecessary. The change, therefore, will not simply be a battle between humans and machines. Many professions will continue to exist, but they may require fewer workers to produce the same output.
The first blow may come from the entry points
One of the most sensitive issues arises among young people trying to enter the job market. For decades, many people began their careers performing basic tasks: preparing documents, researching information, answering inquiries, analyzing simple data, or producing drafts that were later reviewed by someone with more experience. It is precisely these tasks that are among the easiest to automate with AI.
During Monday’s annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, international leaders warned of the deterioration already beginning to be seen in certain entry-level jobs. The risk is that a generation may face an unexpected dilemma: needing experience to get a job, but finding fewer and fewer jobs where they can gain that experience.
Not everyone will lose: some could stand to gain a lot
There is also another side to this phenomenon. A doctor who uses AI to analyze large amounts of data, a programmer capable of writing code more quickly, or a researcher who automates routine tasks could multiply their productivity. This is precisely where one of the IMF’s greatest fears comes into play: inequality.
Those with skills that complement artificial intelligence could increase their income and professional value. Those who perform tasks that are easily replaceable may experience the exact opposite. The result could be a labor market divided between highly productive workers and others whose services lose economic value.
The IMF also warns that about one in ten job postings in advanced economies already requires a new skill related to technological changes—a sign that companies are adjusting their requirements even as the transformation is still in its early stages.
AI is also creating a different kind of economy
The problem doesn't end with jobs. The expansion of data centers, chips, energy, and infrastructure for artificial intelligence is generating massive investments and contributing to global growth. According to the IMF, this investment is currently helping to keep global growth at around 3%. But an economy in which an increasingly larger share of output depends on technological capital and a smaller share on human labor raises uncomfortable questions.
If companies produce more with fewer employees, who will fund social protection systems? How will tax revenue based on wages be sustained? What will happen to the millions of people whose training no longer matches market demands? These aren’t questions for fifty years from now. They’re already being discussed.
The real race has already begun
The mistake is probably to imagine that AI will one day arrive and eliminate millions of jobs all at once. The transformation will be much less dramatic.
First, one task will disappear. Then another. One company will discover that five people can do the work that used to be done by ten. Another will stop hiring assistants. Another will replace part of its customer service operations. Yet another will automate translations, documents, or analyses. Job titles will retain their names for some time, even though the roles themselves will have changed completely.
And that may be precisely the most profound aspect of the current revolution: Many jobs won't disappear all at once; they will gradually lose the tasks that justified their existence. The 60% that the IMF refers to is not a death sentence for mass unemployment. It is a warning of something that may be even worse. A huge part of human work is about to be redefined.
