Research reveals unsettling percentage of workers have already seen AI replace their work
The various critics of artificial intelligence warned us that machines would be coming for our jobs, and while it's not quite as bad as the robotic uprising depicted in the Terminator movies, it's hardly good news for the human race.
Still, with some suggesting that AI could be the trigger for World War III or simply wipe out the human race when it realizes we're the biggest threat to the planet, keeping our jobs could be the least of our worries.
On the other side of the spectrum, AI champions claim productivity will be up, prices will be driven down, and we could soon be living on a universal high income.
That's all well and good as the likes of Elon Musk champion universal high income, but what happens in the meantime? There's the more immediate fear that people are being put out of work and the idea that five-year-olds won't be able to find jobs, although there are different claims about what effect AI is having on the workplace.
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Different countries are apparently more at risk of AI automation, while women are supposedly more likely to be shown the door by robots, but how many of us are being affected daily?
New research from Epoch AI reveals the somewhat shocking stats about how parts of the average worker's load have already been handed off to AI.
Over 2,000 Americans were asked whether they use AI at work, what they use it for, and whether it's replacing or creating tasks.
It's an admittedly small sample size when looking at the size of the USA, various jobs, and how AI is rapidly expanding in other countries across the globe.
While most of us are guilty of turning to something like Gemini or ChatGPT to ask for help planning a holiday or for a quick fact check, the survey suggests that half of employed Americans who've used AI in the past week will admit to using it as much for work as they do for personal tasks.
This makes sense when you realize that employer-paid subscribers are much more likely to use AI tools than those who are on free tiers.
The stats might not be as damaging as you'd think, as even though AI has apparently replaced tasks for 27% of workers, it's also created new ones for 21%.
Epoch AI's research aligns with earlier studies from the Pew Research Center, which in October 2025, claimed that one in five U.S. workers is using AI as part of their job.
In terms of tasks being replaced, the likes of document summarizing that would previously need someone to manually read are where AI can be seen in action.
For new tasks being created, this included something like data analysis that might previously require a human worker to know how to code. Epoch AI reiterated: "We did not collect detailed examples of specific tasks, but these results provide an early, nationally representative snapshot of how AI is reshaping work at the task level."
Epoch AI concluded that the findings suggest that AI use in the workplace is 'widespread': "While most people still use AI mainly for personal tasks, about half of employed users use it at least as much for work."
Broader workforce implications will apparently be driven by individual changes in how people work, meaning trends shown in the research above will apparently be important to keep track of.