A slew of recent studies show that AI is not dramatically displacing workers. At the same time, there was no sign that rapidly developing technologies were creating many jobs, although AI skills remained in high demand.
Stanford University researchers found in an August study that any AI-related job losses were concentrated among younger workers aged 22-25. But for older and more experienced workers, this was not the case.
“Claims of economy-wide job losses due to artificial intelligence are not visible in wage data until June 2026,” the researchers said, citing ADP wage information. Stanford collaborated with ADP to conduct the study.
The decline in the number of younger workers is more often due to the automation of some work tasks with AI, rather than its use as a complement to work. In contrast, AI is more often used by experienced workers to improve their work.
According to the Stanford report, workers between the ages of 22 and 25 in jobs that are highly susceptible to AI disruption are lagging behind their older counterparts. Their employment rate in June was about 19% lower than the same age group in less at-risk occupations. This is compared to where they would be if both groups kept pace with each other.
“Experienced workers do not show a comparable gap,” the researchers said, adding that “this is consistent with recent reports of worsening labor market conditions for entry-level workers.”
Employment of young workers in jobs exposed to AI fell by about 11% compared to the end of 2022, while the same age group in less exposed jobs actually rose by about 10%. “For older age groups, we find much smaller differences in employment growth across quintiles of AI exposure,” the researchers say.
Stanford, which last year set up a lab to study the impact of AI amid growing concerns about the technology’s economic impact, said its numbers were based on available indicators.
The negative impact of AI on younger workers is well documented: many were laid off in the first wave of AI automation. AI has also suppressed wages for entry-level workers.
AI cut 116,175 jobs in 2026, but that number is declining. According to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, this technology was blamed for 3,462 layoffs in August.
That’s “the lowest monthly total since December 2025, when 142 layoffs were related to artificial intelligence,” the company wrote in a blog post. The research firm also noted the companies’ aggressive hiring plans for 2027.
AI adds value to companies in a variety of ways, and people are an important part of that process, says Michael Chui, senior fellow at QuantumBlack, AI at McKinsey. “The night shift is now a reality,” he said. “People send their agents to write code and review it in the morning.”
Late last year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) established an artificial intelligence labor index to measure how agents influence the workforce. The school’s Project Iceberg looks at how coordination and interaction with agent-based AI is changing the way work gets done.
Despite the disruption, demand for artificial intelligence talent continues to grow, tech industry consortium CompTIA said last week. About 320,000 job openings in August required artificial intelligence capabilities, up 4.5% from July.
AI-related hiring is outpacing the broader tech market, with demand for AI skills up 96% from last year, said Kai Mitchell, head of Experis North America, which is part of ManpowerGroup.
“We’re seeing real growth… in marketing management and project management, which suggests that employers are looking not just at the people creating AI, but at the people using it,” Mitchell said.
More broadly, the U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, according to Labor Department data released last week. CompTIA noted that technology employment across all sectors rose by 86,000 in August.
But 14,700 positions were cut in the technology sector, CompTIA reported.