What the data shows
What does the future hold for the workforce as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve? This question is becoming increasingly pressing as major companies begin to adapt to AI tools, leading to significant workforce reductions. Recently, Jack Dorsey announced that Block would be shedding almost 50 percent of its workforce due to the integration of AI technologies. Dorsey believes that this trend will not be isolated; he expects a majority of companies to come to a similar conclusion about workforce reductions within the next year.
Supporting this shift, some companies have reported that their operations now rely on code that is between 25 percent to 75 percent AI-generated. This reliance on AI raises concerns about the broader implications for employment and economic stability. For instance, Citrini Research has outlined a scenario where AI could lead to a stock market crash of up to 60 percent. Such predictions highlight the potential for AI to disrupt not only individual companies but entire economic systems.
The ramifications of AI on employment are also significant. Experts predict that the US jobless rate could hit 10 percent by June 2028 due to job displacement caused by AI technologies. This potential increase in unemployment raises questions about the future of work and the societal impacts of widespread job loss.
In addition to workforce concerns, the economic outlook appears grim. The S&P 500 could lose 57 percent of its value compared to its peak in October 2026, largely due to disruptions caused by AI. These forecasts echo historical events, such as the Black Monday crash of 1987, which has been partly attributed to automated trading strategies. The fear is that AI could similarly destabilize financial markets.
On the technological front, AI is also undergoing rapid advancements. Google’s Gemini model recently recorded 45.9 percent on a test designed to measure AI and human intellect, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT achieved only 3 percent accuracy on the same test in 2024. This benchmark examination, which consists of 2,500 questions across roughly 100 disciplines, was developed by Scale and the Centre for AI Safety. The aim is to assess the gap between AI and human intelligence, a gap that some experts believe is narrowing.
Anthropic’s Claude system also participated in this examination, achieving a score of 34.2 percent. Calvin Zhang, one of the developers of the benchmark test, stated, “We wanted to create this close-ended academic benchmark, set to the frontier of expert humans, that only a handful of people on earth can really solve.” This highlights the ongoing efforts to understand and measure AI capabilities in relation to human intelligence.
As AI continues to evolve, the implications for the workforce and the economy remain uncertain. While some companies are embracing AI for efficiency, others are grappling with the consequences of job losses and economic instability. Dr. Tung Nguyen remarked, “Humanity’s Last Exam stands as one of the clearest assessments of the gap between AI and human intelligence,” emphasizing the importance of understanding this gap as we move forward.
Details remain unconfirmed regarding the full extent of AI’s impact on the workforce and economy, but the trends are clear: AI is reshaping industries and challenging traditional employment models. The coming years will be crucial in determining how society adapts to these changes and what measures can be taken to mitigate the potential negative effects.