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Artificial intelligence has become the job market's boogeyman. Headlines report AI-driven layoffs, CEOs boast about doing more with fewer employees, and entry-level roles for recent college graduates have become harder to find.

But new research is challenging the narrative that AI adoption leads to job loss.

According to a study of spending and headcount data at 21,559 U.S. firms, the companies making the biggest investments in AI are more, not less, apt to expand their workforce in the two years after adopting AI.

Workforce data from Revelio Labs and spending data from Ramp showed headcount was an average of 10.2% higher for heavy AI adopters, while companies making smaller AI investments had a negligible difference in hiring. Entry-level headcount grows even faster, rising 12% for high AI adopters.

Granted, AI's threat to jobs can't be waved away by one correlational study. Researchers point to an important caveat: Companies adopting AI tend to be larger, faster-growing and more technology-focused than those that haven't invested in AI, they said. So it's hard to separate whether AI is driving hiring, or whether the big adopters were predisposed to spending more on both people and AI.

The researchers also said they're not sure why these companies are hiring more. “We now know that AI adopters, and especially high-intensity adopters, grow faster,” the researchers wrote.

“We do not yet know which operational practices generate that growth.” It could relate to anything from greater sales productivity and engineering leverage to faster analysis and better targeting, they said.

So what?

The implications of AI on the broader labor market are still evolving and complicate the outlook for workers.

So far this year, AI has been cited in 23% of all job cuts at U.S.-based employers, according to the latest figures from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. But instead of displacing large numbers of workers overnight, AI may be most visible in reduced hiring, research from Anthropic suggests.

As a clearer picture of AI's impact emerges, there are a few things we can feel pretty sure of:

•   If you're looking for a job, you want to join one that's growing. And companies using AI are more likely to be growing.

•   There are jobs resilient to automation — and they're also growing. According to the World Economic Forum, while technology-related roles are predicted to be the fastest-growing jobs in percentage terms, what it calls “frontline job roles” — gigs with hands-on or interpersonal requirements like farmworkers, delivery drivers, construction workers, and salespeople — are expected to see the largest growth in absolute terms of volume.

•   AI isn't going away, and its uses are evolving everyday. Even if having AI skills aren't relevant to your career — at least right now — you'll probably benefit from it in other areas of your life.

Related Reading

Why The AI Era Presents Not A Jobs Crisis, But A Livelihood One (World Economic Forum)

Key Findings About How Americans View Artificial Intelligence (Pew Research Center)

In This AI Economy, Should You Have a Backup Career? (SoFi)

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