Artificial Intelligence and the future of work; risks and opportunities
The World Economic Forum, in its report Four Futures for Jobs in the New Economy: AI and Talent in 2030, outlines several scenarios for how work could evolve in the coming years depending on the extent to which artificial intelligence is adopted by companies and workers. Drawing on surveys of executives worldwide, the report stresses that the impact of AI is not predetermined: it will largely depend on the choices made today around training, regulation and the organization of work. These decisions will be crucial in determining whether AI becomes a driver of more inclusive growth and new opportunities, or instead deepens inequalities and fuels greater social instability.
Key takeaways from the report:
- Business perceptions of the impact of AI: According to the report, 54% of the more than 10,000 executives surveyed expect AI to displace a large number of existing jobs, compared with only 24% who anticipate net job creation. At the same time, 44.6% of business leaders foresee an increase in corporate profit margins, while 37% expect greater accessibility of goods and services. However, only 12.1% believe AI will lead to higher wages. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.6%) warn of increased industry concentration, and 21.4% expect discrimination against specific demographic groups to intensify.
- AI adoption is already widespread, but uneven: The share of companies using AI in at least one business function has risen from 55% in 2022 to 88% in 2025. However, only 23% have scaled agentic AI systems capable of operating with higher levels of autonomy, pointing to significant efficiency and productivity gaps across firms and sectors.
- Four divergent scenarios for 2030: The report combines two key variables — the pace of AI advancement (exponential or incremental) and workforce readiness (widespread or limited), to outline four plausible futures:
- Supercharged Progress: strong gains in productivity and corporate profit margins, accompanied by significant job displacement and mounting pressure on social safety nets.
- The Age of Displacement: accelerated automation, rising unemployment, declining consumer confidence and growing social tensions.
- Co-Pilot Economy: gradual AI adoption, with technology augmenting human work, delivering sustained productivity improvements and greater labour market stability.
- Stalled Progress: limited technological advances, weak productivity growth and rising inequality across firms, sectors and regions.
- Economic outcomes vary sharply across scenarios: In the most advanced scenarios, labour productivity growth clearly exceeds recent annual averages, while corporate operating margins increase. In lower-readiness scenarios, unemployment and wage polarization intensify, while consumer confidence falls below recent historical levels. Workforce readiness emerges as the key differentiating factor: according to the report demand for profiles with competencies in AI increased by 70% between 2024 and 2025. Countries and companies that invested early in skills development, labour mobility and AI governance are better positioned to absorb technological disruption and avoid scenarios of severe social fragmentation.
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