Mark Zuckerberg calls this an “incredible moment.” Many workers are struggling with the uncertainty.
Workers are trying to understand where they stand as AI rises in the workplace.
Carl Webb has been underslept and over-stressed lately, but he has a plan. The Austin, Texas, resident works night shifts at an IRS processing center. His seasonal job is ending, and agency leaders—like many corporate executives—have said they intend to incorporate more technology into their operations.
After four or five hours of sleep, Webb attends a community-college course on semiconductor manufacturing. His goal is to find work maintaining the equipment that builds chips, which are essential to the AI boom.
“I don’t want to be one of the people automated out of the workforce. I guess I have to be a techie. I hope I’m one of the techies they need,” said Webb, 61.
Like Webb, many Americans are trying to figure out their place in an AI-powered economy. Insecurity about the technology’s effect on livelihoods is rising. In 2026, for the first time, workers’ negative discussions about AI on Glassdoor outnumbered positive ones. The concerns center on potential layoffs and reduced hiring.
“User talk of AI has really surged and become a top concern for workers,” Glassdoor chief economist Daniel Zhao told MarketWatch.
Yet in a job market full of mixed signals, a striking one stands out: workers’ fears of being replaced by AI exceed the scale of displacement that appears to be occurring—so far, at least.
There are some marginal signs of AI-related layoffs and fewer opportunities for younger workers in AI-exposed roles. Overall, however, economists say there is no clear evidence that AI is pushing people out of jobs on a large scale.
Wall Street investors and C-suite executives remain bullish. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened a recent essay by declaring that “we are fortunate to live at an incredible moment in history.”
Many rank-and-file workers are less convinced and are having difficulty living with the uncertainty.
What the job numbers show
The economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Adam Schickling, senior economist at Vanguard, cautioned against reading too much into the figure. Economists at the firm had anticipated “spring strength, followed by summer softness,” partly due to factors such as World Cup-related hiring.
Information and professional services are the sectors most likely to reveal AI disruption, Schickling noted. July data showed little month-over-month change in those industries.
“I’m not saying concern is invalid. It’s not something having a material effect at the moment,” he said. Over the next five to 10 years, he expects the total number of workers to hold steady, but with substantial shifts in the types of work and skills employers seek.
In the broader picture, AI’s impact on employment numbers has been “very muted right now,” said ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson.
Occupations most exposed to AI shrank 0.2% year over year in June, according to research from ADP and Stanford University. The least-exposed jobs grew 0.6% over the same period.
ADP’s July jobs report showed employers added 44,000 positions. More than half were in information, financial services, and professional and business services—three areas where AI replacement might be expected to appear. “We’re not seeing it this month,” Richardson said.
Researchers at Revelio Labs examined companies’ embrace of AI through the skills and titles listed in job postings. Since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022, AI adopters have increased headcount 27% more than non-adopters.
From this perspective, businesses appear to view AI as a way to do more with more. Corporate leaders overwhelmingly describe AI as a productivity boon, according to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysts who reviewed nearly half a million earnings calls since late 2022.
In his essay, Zuckerberg noted that history is filled with technological change and that adaptation can be difficult. Widespread access to AI and the acquisition of AI skills will ease the transition, he wrote.
“Company sizes may shrink—just as they did in the transition from industrial giants to tech companies. But this doesn’t mean fewer jobs overall. It implies a larger number of companies with fewer people each. There are many more valuable companies and services to build than people can build today,” Zuckerberg said.
Businesses may become more productive, but the early evidence on *who* benefits is uneven—and that unevenness may help explain workers’ anxiety.
At firms that leaned into AI, senior-level roles rose 31%, while junior-level roles increased only 6%, Revelio Labs found.
The disparity was sharper in the ADP and Stanford Digital Economy Lab research. The number of people in their early to mid-20s working in AI-exposed jobs has contracted for 33 consecutive months; there are now roughly 4% fewer early-20s workers in those roles. A smaller decline occurred among workers in their late 20s. By contrast, employment was flat year over year for early-20s workers in the least AI-exposed jobs.
A shift in sentiment
More than half of workers now use AI at least occasionally on the job, according to Gallup, often for writing, editing, or research. Still, many remain wary of the technology that helps them draft an email.
Two-thirds of workers say AI will harm the workplace, according to a poll from the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic-policy think tank. They believe it will either lead to layoffs or intensify pressure to produce more.
Lower-paid workers with less formal education tend to hold the dimmest views. Four in 10 people earning at least $100,000 said AI will improve their job; only 19% of those earning under $50,000 agreed. Four in 10 job seekers said AI is already harming their line of work.
Worker confidence was already fragile. Many people are staying put in their current roles, aware that the unemployed often face months-long job searches.
Glassdoor’s employee-confidence index hit a new low last month. The gauge tracks workers’ views of their employer’s business outlook over the next six months and also reflects how they feel about their own prospects.
“Workers are constantly anxious about layoffs. They are worried about when the next shoe is going to drop,” Zhao said. The recent dip may have more to do with inflation, he added, “but AI is absolutely a part of this as well.”
The overall layoff rate remains extraordinarily low. Still, it does not take much for workers to grow doubtful about their prospects.
“Workers see the headlines, hear about their friends. Crucially, they hear about workers having incredibly hard times getting back into jobs, which amplifies the risk of being laid off,” Zhao said.
Employers announced more than 33,000 layoffs last month, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas—a decline from both June and the same period a year earlier. For the fifth consecutive month, companies cited AI as the top reason for the cuts; it accounted for one-third of the pink slips. So far this year, AI has been linked to nearly 113,000 layoffs—roughly one-quarter of the job cuts tracked by the firm.
The pace of layoffs has fallen “dramatically this summer,” said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The reductions are concentrated in tech, and AI investment remains “still the story.” At the same time, employers continue to announce hiring plans. “So while AI is shifting the labor market, it is not dismantling it.”
AI’s threat to jobs may still be modest, but it is large enough to occupy people’s minds.
Temitayo Ogunduyilemi, a 27-year-old industrial engineer in Baltimore who works with biomedical supply chains, is one example. He could use AI for charts, spreadsheets, and data reports, yet he deliberately avoids it. “I’m a little old school. I would look it up and figure it out.”
Ogunduyilemi does not fear AI taking his job. Supply-chain management requires human judgment when unexpected problems arise. “I just keep it in the back of my mind,” he told MarketWatch. That is why he skips AI prompts and learns tasks himself: “If I have the skill myself, that puts me in a position where I’m not necessarily outsourced.”