Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the IT sector, raising both concerns about job displacement and opportunities for new kinds of work. The World Economic Forum forecasts that demand for professionals in artificial intelligence and machine learning could increase by as much as 40% by 2027, even as some traditional roles face automation pressure.
Who is most affected?
The changes hit particularly hard on recent graduates, older workers who find it harder to adapt to technological shifts, and people performing routine office tasks — with routine roles disproportionately held by women. Research from Anthropic supports the picture of a structural shift in the labor market.
At the same time, concrete indicators of displacement exist: The Washington Post reports that in the two years following the arrival of ChatGPT, the number of programming jobs in the United States fell by roughly 25%. The OECD estimates that about 27% of jobs are highly exposed to automation.
Productivity gains — with human oversight
AI tools that boost developer productivity show clear benefits. Studies of GitHub Copilot usage indicate developers can write code up to 55% faster, demonstrating a measurable productivity uplift from AI assistance.
However, limits remain on quality and reliability. A Stack Overflow survey found nearly half of developers believe AI tools do not handle complex problems well. Current large language models can exhibit error rates of 10–30% on more complex tasks, which underscores the continuing need for human oversight and intervention.
Reflecting this, OpenAI — the organization behind ChatGPT — plans to expand its workforce, aiming to grow to about 8,000 employees by the end of 2026.
Changing roles: less routine, more higher-level work
As routine programming tasks decline, demand increases for skills such as complex problem solving, system-level architecture design, and the effective use and fine-tuning of AI-based developer tools. These higher-value roles can partially offset the reduction in routine positions.
Education and lifelong learning
Higher education and reskilling initiatives play a key role in helping the workforce adapt. Future employability will depend less on a single diploma and more on continuously updated competencies — making lifelong learning a central requirement.
AI literacy as a basic expectation
AI literacy — understanding what AI is, where it can be applied, how language models work, how to use them effectively, and what risks they carry — is increasingly treated as a basic expectation. Because AI appears across industries, many companies are becoming, in part, technology firms.
A recent Microsoft survey underlines this trend: in the United States, two-thirds of leaders no longer hire employees who lack basic AI knowledge, while half of workers — across sectors — already use AI in their jobs.
Conclusions
AI does not simply eliminate or save jobs; it reshapes tasks and the skills employers seek. Productivity-enhancing tools may reduce the number of certain roles in the short term, but in the longer run they create demand for higher-level expertise that requires human oversight and creativity. Employers and educational institutions should prioritize continuous learning and the spread of AI literacy to enable a smoother transition.
