Artificial intelligence creates more jobs than it destroys

“So far, the AI boom appears to be adding far more American jobs than it is eliminating,” reports The Doomslayer. “An analysis by The Economist finds that industries and occupations closely tied to AI and data centers have added about 1 million more US jobs than broader employment trends would predict. Around 320,000 of those above-trend jobs are in data-center-related construction and manufacturing, and 730,000 are in the occupations closest to AI development, such as engineering, software development, mathematics, and data science. By comparison, The Economist counted roughly 200,000 layoffs attributed to AI since mid-2023.”

The Economist tracked five industries at the heart of the data-centre build-out, from electrical contracting to equipment manufacturing. Since 2023 employment in them has risen by roughly 320,000 more than broader construction and manufacturing trends would suggest. The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) expects utilities to be the fastest-growing big sector between now and 2035…

AI is also creating a new class of white-collar jobs…

Preliminary research by Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Burning Glass Institute, uses the research outfit’s career history database (which mostly relies on LinkedIn career histories) to identify jobs that would not exist without AI, whether at AI-native firms or because they are AI-specific roles at other companies. He reckons roughly 1% of professional jobs are now ‘AI jobs’—on the order of 1m positions in America. In computer occupations and life sciences—including researchers using AI to discover new drugs—the share is 4-5%. LinkedIn’s own analysis points to roughly 640,000 new AI-specific jobs between 2023 and 2025…

A third source of jobs comes from productivity gains. AI allows lawyers to draft contracts faster and analysts to comb through financial filings in minutes. If higher productivity lowers the cost of professional services, it is possible that demand for them can rise enough to create more work overall.

Some of the occupations once believed to be most vulnerable to AI appear to be benefiting from this effect. Between 2023 and 2025 employment among paralegals rose by about 11% and among market-research analysts by 6%, compared with a national average of around 2%.

Artificial intelligence helped a company detect a big source of geothermal energy.

The nation of Zambia used artificial intelligence to find new mineral wealth.

Kenyan farmers are using artificial intelligence to produce much more food.

Artificial intelligence is greatly improving the detection of many different diseases.

Artificial intelligence is improving hurricane predictions.

Artificial intelligence spotted a wildfire and promptly alerted firefighters.