Artificial intelligence and automation have the potential to eliminate nearly 100 million jobs in the U.S. within the next ten years, as stated in a new Senate report published on Monday.
This report, presented by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, highlights how technological progress poses a risk to jobs across various sectors, including retail and healthcare. The report underscores that 89% of fast-food workers, 64% of accountants, and 47% of truck drivers face the possibility of replacement.
The Democratic staff on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee—where Sanders is the ranking member—utilized ChatGPT to determine which occupations are most at risk, describing this phenomenon as the emergence of “artificial labor.”
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According to the model’s projections, the occupations facing the biggest potential losses include:
- Fast food and counter workers: 3.3 million jobs
- Customer service representatives: 2.5 million jobs
- Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers: 2.4 million jobs
- Retail salespersons: 2.4 million jobs
- Stockers and order fillers: 2.2 million jobs
In total, 15 out of the 20 most vulnerable occupations could potentially lose over half of their jobs. Even traditionally hands-on positions like registered nurses and personal care aides could also feel the impact, according to the findings.
“The same small group of wealthy individuals who have manipulated our economy for years — including Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others — are rapidly pushing to replace human workers with what they term ‘artificial labor,’” Sanders commented in a press release.
He warned: “If we do not act, the result could be economic devastation for working people across this country.”
This report emerges as major corporations are already implementing automation and AI to cut their workforce costs. In June, Amazon announced deploying its one millionth robot, nearing a point where it may have more robots than human workers in its warehouses, according to the Wall Street Journal. Similarly, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff attributed the reduction of customer-support roles over the last year to advancements in AI.
The Senate report’s findings echo Labor Department projections that anticipate steep job declines over the next decade, including about 310,000 fewer cashier jobs (-10%), nearly 180,000 fewer office clerks (-7%) and 150,000 fewer customer service representatives (-5.5%).
“The agricultural revolution unfolded over thousands of years. The industrial revolution took more than a century,” the Senate report said. “Artificial labor could reshape the economy in less than a decade.”
Still, other research has found little evidence that the so-called AI jobs apocalypse hasn’t arrived at least not yet.
A recent study from researchers at the Yale University Budget Lab and the Brookings Institution found that the share of workers in jobs with high, medium and low AI “exposure” has remained largely stable since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022.
Even so, Sanders’ report argues that waiting to see how the labor market adapts would be a mistake. It proposes several measures to ensure “workers, not just corporate CEOs and Wall Street” benefit from technological change including a “robot tax” on large corporations, profit-sharing requirements and guaranteed paid family and medical leave.
“We must stand up to the greed of Big Tech and make sure the future of artificial intelligence is a future that works for all of us not just the people on top,” Sanders said.
