Currently, it remains unclear who will emerge as the winners and losers in this evolving work landscape. The increased prevalence of AI demands resilience from employees. The ability to learn new skills and adapt to challenging changes will be crucial in the future job market. AI has already infiltrated institutions and companies. Translators were among its first victims, as AI can process language at speeds unattainable by humans.

For example, in the European Union, the number of translators has steadily declined over the past decade, decreasing by an average of about 50 employees annually, despite a significant increase in the volume of texts requiring translation (Sorgi & Di Saria 2023). Instead, individual specialists capable of guiding AI through prompts have been hired. Beyond translators, entry-level coders, data analysts, web service developers, corporate legal experts, customer service representatives, journalists, accountants, and proofreaders are also in the line of fire.

The German tabloid Bild, for instance, has announced plans to reduce personnel costs by approximately 100 million euros through AI implementation (Henley 2023). Computer giant IBM has declared its intention to replace up to 7,800 jobs with AI over the next five years (Asikainen 2023; Ford 2023). The Americ

an company Salesforce already replaced over 700 positions with AI at the beginning of the year (Ford 2024). Online financial services provider Klarna plans to substitute up to half of its staff with AI in the coming years (Ford 2024; Lehtonen 2024).

According to the IMF, highly educated women are more susceptible to AI-induced changes than men. However, they simultaneously possess superior tools to leverage AI in their work compared to older employees (Cazzanica et al. 2024). Securing one’s position may require even experienced experts to adopt AI early as part of their work methods and continuously develop their expertise.

The changes brought about by AI pose the greatest challenges for young people just starting their careers and older workers. Universities provide solid foundations for career initiation, but genuine expertise develops only through practical work experience. If entry-level knowledge workers are particularly vulnerable, there’s a risk that expertise may never fully develop. Conversely, entirely new types of tasks and job descriptions may emerge, potentially improving the competitiveness of new entrants in the job market.

Rapid development can be especially challenging for older individuals, as studies indicate that a person’s willingness and ability to learn new things diminish with age. Simultaneously, established ways of working become more deeply ingrained over time, potentially leading to behavioral rigidity (e.g., Matamales et al. 2016). Many question whether this constitutes a form of digital discrimination, where younger generations have created tools that better understand them and their needs compared to older generations.