Canarians in coal mines were an early warning signal that something is wrong. When they fell from their rods, the miners underground knew that they had only one thing left: to run. Because when the birds lost consciousness – most often due to carbon monoxide [czadu] – It meant that people were also in deadly danger.
Scientists from the elite American University of Stanford now use the example of canaries in the coal mine to show how dramatic the results of their new study can be, the results of which published in August 2025 under the title “Canarians in a coal mine? Six facts about the current influence of artificial intelligence on employment”.
One of the key questions about the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is whether and if so, how quickly this technology will lead to losing jobs. The forecasts are different: from the vision that in the future no one will have to work, because all tasks will be performed by AI, after predicting that the AI bubble will break soon and people say that the expected automation and increase in performance thanks to it are not possible.
However, so far there is a lack of one: reliable numerical data on the basis of which one could decide which version of the future is more likely. Now three scientists from Stanford: Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar and Ruyu Chen have come to a disturbing conclusion for supporters of human work.
It turns out that now in some industries, especially among people starting their professional careers, you can measure the clear influence of artificial intelligence. Beginners are much more difficult to find the first job in these areas.
In the case of people aged 22 to 25, there was a “significant decrease in employment” in industries, which are particularly well suited for automation using generative artificial intelligence. Scientists from the Stanford University include in these industries in particular Software creation and customer service.
While employment in these industries fell among young employees, among the elders still grew. Scientists have examined other potential factors influencing to determine if this is really the result of artificial intelligence, but they could rule them out.
Scientists also checked whether there was a similar difference in the development of the development of employment opportunities between age groups. It turned out that this effect appeared at the end of 2022. This is exactly the moment when ChatgPT hit the market, the first large language model that attracted a wide range of users.
“Why could artificial intelligence more discriminate against people starting their professional careers than other age groups?” – scientists ask. “One of the possibilities is that due to the nature of the training process, artificial intelligence replaces coded knowledge, or” book knowledge “, which is the basis for formal education,” they write. “Artificial intelligence may be less able to replace hidden knowledge, i.e. individual tips and tricks that accumulate with experience.” Because people starting their professional careers have more “book knowledge” than experience, “the effect of artificial intelligence” affects them first.
The study uses ADP data, the largest company dealing with payroll service in the United States. In addition, scientists analyzed the data provided by Anthropic to check in which tasks were particularly often turned to the Claude artificial intelligence model. It was also distinguished whether the result could completely automate the user's task or only facilitated it. This effect was particularly visible in the case of people starting their careers in competitions in which tasks could be completely automated.
As a reference value, scientists used employment as at October 1, 2022, i.e. a few weeks before the publication of ChatgPT. Since then, employment of programmers aged 22 to 25 has dropped by almost 20 percent. Until July 2025, similar values were also recorded in the area of customer service. In some other professional groups that work mainly on computers, there were also some effects, but they are even smaller than in the case of those particularly affected professions.
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So far, there is no impact on the amount of remuneration
So far, it seems that artificial intelligence causes primarily to liquidate positions for people starting their professional careers, while scientists have not yet been able to measure the impact on the amount of remuneration.
The results of research of scientists from Stanford are in line with reports mainly from the technology industry. AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon dealing with the cloud of computing and artificial intelligence, announced in July that it intends to slow down hundreds of employees. According to the Reuters agency This applies in particular to product specialists whose task is to help customers adapt the AWS offers to their needs – In the future, AI agents will be able to carry out this job more efficiently. The concern confirmed the exemptions.
AI agents [roboty AI] These are autonomous systems that can perform tasks independently without the need for supervision and instructions on the part of man at every stage. For example, such AI agents can, for example, collect and sum up information from the company, write a code, translate languages or automate time -consuming routine activities.
The head of Amazon, Andy Jassa, has already announced a few weeks earlier to all employees in the internal letter that generative artificial intelligence would fundamentally change the division of work in the concern. The introduction of AI agents will cause “fewer people will be needed to perform current tasks and more for other work.”
The General Director of Amazon Andy Jassa during the premiere of Alexa + with the functions of artificial intelligence, New York, USA, February 26, 2025.John Angelillo / PAP
Amazon Thus, he joined a number of companies that have announced exemptions in recent months that have become possible directly or indirectly thanks to the use of artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Meta and Spotify They have already announced a reduction in employment because they use AI agents to automate routine tasks to reduce costs and reduce dependence on staff.
In May, Microsoft liquidated about 6,000 jobs, of which almost half of the dismissed are programmers. The exemptions took place shortly after the CEO of Satyada Nadella announced that currently even 30 percent. The entire Microsoft code is written by artificial intelligence. The Microsoft Technology Director Kevin Scott estimates that by 2030 95 percent The entire new program code will be generated by AI.
However, artificial intelligence does not only replace programmers. At the end of May, the IBM technology group announced the liquidation of 8,000 jobs, mainly in the HR department. The head of IBM Arvind Krishn said that the company very aggressively uses artificial intelligence to improve administrative processes. Earlier, at the beginning of the year, the founder of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that he intends to replace IT engineers with mid -level IT with AI agents. Shortly afterwards, the finish line slowed down almost five percent. your employees.
The head of Amazon, Jassa, talks about AI agents as future full members of the team. Simple tasks that have been intended for beginners will be performed by AI. Only tasks for those employees who already have sufficient experience to supervise and instruct AI agents or perform complex tasks that are still out of reach of agents. However, thanks to the technological progress of such tasks, he quickly becomes less and less.
Even industry experts are surprised by the pace at which AI is influenced by: The head of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, warned, for example, that AI could eliminate up to 50 percent. all sites for beginners in offices within five years – Many people affected by this problem will see the threat only when their work disappears. They will simply run out of canary in a coal mine.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
