AI and the future of US jobs: Skills and pathways | McKinsey & Company
Every generation confronted by a new technology asks whether machines will replace workers. Steam mechanized production, electricity restructured factories, computers digitized information. Artificial intelligence has revived the question with new urgency because it affects all workers and all jobs, including cognitive work that once seemed resistant to automation. Labor markets adjust to technology innovation and adoption not simply by shedding jobs but also by creating new jobs and by reorganizing and reallocating work. Some activities are automated, others become more valuable, new tasks emerge, demand expands in some sectors and contracts in others, and workers move—or fail to move—between occupations, employers, and geographies. Artificial intelligence (AI): The ability of software to perform tasks that traditionally require human intelligence, potentially augmenting or substituting people’s capabilities. Automation: The use of technology to perform work activities that would othe