How Exactly Has AI Affected the Job Market

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Automation, Augmentation, and the Quiet Restructuring of Work

An article published in the Harvard Business Review not too long ago titled “Research: How Gen AI Is Already Impacting the Labor Market” (Nov. 11, 2024) offered a glimpse into the job market’s initial reaction to the advent of AI.

It offered a measured look at the early, often understated ways generative AI is reshaping employment.

Unlike earlier waves of automation focused on physical or repetitive tasks, Gen AI operates across a wide range of cognitive functions. Earlier automation — think factory robots or spreadsheet macros — mostly replaced physical labor (like packaging) or simple repetitive tasks (like data entry).

Generative AI (Gen AI), however, is now being applied in areas once thought to require human thinking — like writing emails, designing images, summarizing reports, or even coding. The claim is that it goes beyond physical tasks and can now “think with us” or even “for us” in some ways.

Because it can be applied across such a diverse range of tasks — from drafting text to analyzing code — Gen AI is gradually reshaping the nature of work in subtle yet noticeable ways.

The evolving relationship between generative AI and the workforce represents one of the most…