Artificial intelligence usage is continuing to grow, becoming increasingly widespread in American’s daily lives. This is especially prevalent in the workforce, as some jobs are starting to be replaced entirely by AI. With these advancements, jobs for rising generations become increasingly obsolete.
Cashiers at restaurants such as McDonald’s and Walmart are being replaced by self-ordering kiosks, making the human role increasingly invaluable. In 2022, a study by Sage Journals found that 14% of people have already been replaced due to AI and automation. As a result, this will likely continue to cause increasing rates of unemployment, especially for students looking into future jobs.
Last year, the total number of people laid off last year was 262,735, which is 59% higher than it was in 2022. A recent survey even shows that 38% of companies are planning to start using AI and replacing employees with this technology in 2025. With this notion, students may need to rethink their career plans, as future unemployment and lay-offs may make some jobs less viable to pursue.
As the increasing use of AI utilizes a large amount of energy, there are also many environmental effects occurring as a result. As electricity plants need to burn more materials to keep up with the consumption, more harmful gasses are released into the atmosphere. This could make workers’ jobs harder, as they will have to keep up with the increasing amount of electric plant usage. While this may keep more people employed, they will likely have to work harder, longer hours to keep up.
Despite the drawbacks of AI, some companies still choose to use it. Some argue that AI taking over the workforce will allow people to quit performing tedious tasks and automate repetitive jobs such as telemarketing, allowing them to instead focus more on impactful jobs and objectives.
However, what many don’t realize is that this could result in a disruption of the economy, causing lower wages and even the disappearance of some job types in extreme cases. As AI continues to replace humans, many people will likely find themselves without a source of income, leading to more people becoming impoverished.
This increasing job takeover will be detrimental to society as it’s been proven that people who are unemployed are more likely to suffer from depression. If AI takes over more jobs, this will likely become more common. Students, especially juniors and seniors, are already under immense stress preparing for the future. As a result, by the time these students graduate, the competition for jobs with AI may only increase this stress.
With this in mind, it’s apparent that the workforce being replaced by AI will cause more problems than benefits. AI may only continue to become more prevalent in society, and eventually, rising generations may have their future jobs replaced entirely. Now, students must think ahead about how they might have to adapt to these changes, whether by pursuing more creative jobs that AI can’t replicate, or focusing on jobs that will always need human interaction.
