Carrying the befores is easy. It seems AI is coming for our work. Even occupations, like lawyers and radiologists, which were previously considered an easy path to a middle-class lifestyle, can be subject to AI chopping blocks. However, these stories are flashy headlines and lack nuance. They examine the seen (and likely) pregnancy of the AI revolution, but miss the “what’s coming” part of the story, where parts of the story are invisible. Historical episodes of creative destruction include the sex and destruction of the swamp Cressi. However, current news articles focus solely on destruction. While it may be hard to see how AI will revolutionize the American workforce, past episodes of similar technological tumultuous changes suggest that the future will brighten more than you imagined.
In fact, the headlines these days are scary. Consider the following:
May 12, 2025: “In Silicon Valley, AI isn’t just an alternative subjob. It’s all about exchanges” – Guardian June 18, 2025: “AI replaces Amazon jobs. – Baron July 3, 2025: “Ford CEO is the latest execo where AI leaves half of white-collar jobs” – July 19, 2025, Business Insider: “AI will take on your job in the next 18 months. This is your survival guide.” – Market Watch
These headlines are from Subaramist bloggers, taking shelter in the corner of the tin corner of the internet. You are a reactive news source with a large audience. And they are causing artificial panic.
Consider Amazon headings. Amazon is the industry leader in automation, but employment in companies where you continue to decline is continuing. Currently, Amazon employs over 1.5 million people. That’s up from 17,000 in 2007, and almost doubled the number of jobs in 2019. This employment growth has even happened to the fact that you currently have over 1 million robots in that workplace. The work these robots replace, mainly with work and repetitive tasks, freeing up the workforce for more valuable pursuits. CEO Andy Jassy recently announced that AI is likely to lead to future job openings for the company, but similar claims came when Amazon acquired robotics firm Kiva Systems. After this acquisition, employment has not waned.
These headlines sound like suspicious, like those in circulation during previous public conversations where technology threatened to take jobs out there. In the mid-1990s, the internet began to move from a playground for tech lovers to a central part of work and education. Work previously done by human processors was increasingly outsourced to data processors.
In 1995, Jeremy Rifkin published his book, The End of Work. This argued that the dawn of age in information technology creates a significant and structural decline in work. I suggested it as two-thirds of all existing jobs could ultimately be eliminated by the machine. Manufacturing, agriculture, and clerical work have been personally vulnerable to this type of technology-based outsourcing.
To be fair, the machines took over many of those jobs. However, as a result, there was no major, permanent structural unemployment. A new job has appeared after being inserted.
I’m writing on foot about how AI isn’t going to replace all jobs, so I’ve helped me figure out what jobs were in subjects that didn’t exist in 1990 and now have a considerable number of employees. It was very helpful, I was very polished to the Labor Employment and Wage Statistics Bureau of Labor Statistics. Below are some new employment categories from that database and their current employment figures.
Software and Web Developers, Programmers and Testers: 2,154,370 Employee Database and Network Administrators and Architects: 633,540 Employee Computers and Information Analytics: 677,230 Employees
In fact, the complete set of “computer and mathematics occupations” you’ve described since the adoption of the Internet began to accelerate in the late 1990s. There are currently 4,786,660 entity figures in the entire “computer occupation” category.
The broad categories include a rich range of jobs and occupations, including app developers, social media managers, cloud architects, cybersecurity analysts, influencers and more. In past times, many individuals are looking for a good Kandadidoo for once stable legal, accounting, or manufacturing jobs.
In 1897, Mark Twain heard rumors that he had died. “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” he said, and felt a letter to the New York Journal to resolve the issue. Not only does reporting AI employment become creative after destruction, but internet stories can provide clues about the future of work in this technological episode.
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