There\u2019s this certain category of human work that economists clearly want to put in a horrible basket marked \u201cnot worth paying for because AI can do it.\u201d This group includes some outliers\u2014model, for instance\u2014but it\u2019s mainly jobs in customer service, sales, administration. Many of these jobs are done from a desk, and involve interfacing between people and systems.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s real data now about what\u2019s happening to these jobs in the AI era, and the trend is not great\u2014although it\u2019s clearly too soon to panic. Most notably, the year-long period ending in May of 2025 saw the raw number of customer service representatives drop by 130,180, a troubling 4.8% decrease.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) singled out 18 of these \u201cartificial intelligence related occupations\u201d as part of a 2024 report<\/a>. It\u2019s an intriguing list. Are you on it?<\/p>\n Paralegals and legal assistants Graphic designers Broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys Technical writers Interpreters and translators Insurance sales agents Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products Models Sales engineers Procurement clerks Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks Customer service representatives Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants Legal secretaries and administrative assistants Medical secretaries and administrative assistants Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive <\/p>\n On Friday, in an annual data dump from BLS<\/a>, it emerged that a depression in these \u201cartificial intelligence related occupations\u201d really does appear to be happening. This category was down by 0.2% from May of 2024 to May of 2025, a tiny drop, but one made more notable by employment in general trending up 0.8% in the same time period.<\/p>\n As Bloomberg notes<\/a>, one outlier subcategory among those 18, \u201cMedical secretaries and administrative assistants,\u201d could be distorting the picture here, making the AI effect seem smaller than it actually is. Those jobs are hot; BLS got it wrong, for the time being anyway. Employment numbers across the others on the list dropped by 1.6%.<\/p>\n The original 2014 BLS report adds that while some jobs are \u201cexpected to be affected by the labor-saving effects of AI adoption, others are expected to experience a positive impact to their employment outlook.\u201d This aligns with commentary from people like Ezra Klein who argue\u2014or at least very loudly hope<\/a>\u2014that the AI-powered economy of the near future will be one in which new and better jobs come along to enrich our lives, taking the sting out of all the AI redundancies.<\/p>\n