Tanya Weaver Wed 1 Oct 2025
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2025/10/01/generative-ai-such-chatgpt-isnt-destroying-jobs-feared-finds-new-us-study
Despite fears of AI’s impact on the job market, Yale University-led research has found that the US is “not in an economy-wide jobs apocalypse right now”.
The research examined how US employment has changed since ChatGPT’s release in November 2022. Its launch marked the first introduction of generative AI, sparking widespread anxiety about AI’s potential for job losses.
However, its effects on today’s US labour market remains “largely speculative”. This is the conclusion drawn from the analysis by economists at The Budget Lab, a research initiative based at Yale University, and research think tank the Brookings Institution.
The analysis is based on official data on the labour market and figures from the tech industry on usage and exposure to AI.
The researchers wanted to uncover firstly whether employment disruption has been different since the launch of ChatGPT compared to past periods of early technological change, such as the launch of computers and the internet.
Secondly, they wanted to find if its launch has caused economy-wide employment effects.
The results published in a report – Evaluating the Impact of AI on the labor market: current state of affairs – finds that current data does not indicate major disruption at an economy-wide level since ChatGPT’s release.
This contradicts claims that AI is taking jobs away and is seen by many as more of a risk for individual employees than an opportunity.
The researchers conclude that “while generative AI looks likely to join the ranks of transformative, general purpose technologies, it is too soon to tell how disruptive the technology will be to jobs”.
In other words, it is not shifting the composition of jobs throughout the entire US economy at a much swifter pace than the arrival of computers and the internet.
Molly Kinder, a senior fellow at Brookings who co-authored the research, told The Financial Times (FT): “Despite how quickly AI technology has progressed, the labour market over the past three years has been a story of continuity over change.
“We are not in an economy-wide jobs apocalypse right now – it’s mostly stable. That should be a reassuring message to an anxious public.”
The research also finds limited evidence that the difficulties US graduates face in finding work are linked to technological change brought about by ChatGPT.
According to the research team, its analysis is not predictive of the future. As such, it plans to continue monitoring these trends and update its data every month.
Martha Gimbel, a co-author who heads The Budget Lab, told The FT: “It is an open question [whether or not AI will change the labour market] and we should be monitoring this. But let’s not put the cart before the horse here.”
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