By Stuart Kerr, Technology Correspondent
Published: July 4, 2025 | Last Updated: July 4, 2025
👉 About the Author | @liveaiwire | Email: liveaiwire@gmail.com
As AI automates everything from tax preparation to warehouse logistics, a deepening divide is emerging in the global workforce. Highly skilled tech professionals are riding the wave of algorithmic innovation—but millions of others are at risk of being permanently sidelined. In this new economic reality, it’s not just jobs being lost—it’s entire career paths vanishing.
Disruption at Scale
In early 2025, a major European retail chain replaced 60% of its customer service team with AI chatbots. In the same quarter, three U.S.-based legal firms introduced contract review systems that completed tasks in minutes that once took paralegals hours. These are not isolated incidents—they’re signs of an accelerating trend.
According to the International Labour Organization, more than 375 million jobs worldwide may be impacted by AI-driven automation before 2030. While some roles will evolve, many—particularly in sectors like transport, manufacturing, and administrative support—may disappear altogether.
A 2024 study by the Brookfield Institute found that low- and middle-income workers face the steepest risk, especially in regions lacking access to retraining programmes or broadband infrastructure. “This isn’t just a tech shift,” the authors note. “It’s a systemic economic shock.”
The Promise of Reskilling
Governments and tech firms are racing to roll out retraining initiatives—but results are mixed. In France, the Ministry of Labour launched AI4All, a programme offering displaced workers free courses in prompt engineering, data annotation, and basic Python. Yet uptake remains low in rural areas, where digital literacy is limited and internet access unreliable.
Meanwhile, companies like Amazon and IBM are investing in internal AI academies, hoping to upskill existing employees rather than lay them off. But critics argue these efforts often benefit only a fraction of the workforce—those already well-positioned to pivot.
“There’s a difference between being offered training and being able to make use of it,” says Dr. Hannah Lo, an economist at the University of Bristol. “A single parent without childcare support or internet won’t reap the same opportunity as someone in an urban tech hub.”
Ghost Towns and Growth Hubs
This divide is also geographical. In high-tech corridors like Shenzhen, Boston, and Bengaluru, AI is fuelling job creation in robotics, algorithm auditing, and model training. But in former industrial strongholds, AI is draining local economies.
In the UK, the city of Sunderland has seen a 19% rise in unemployment since 2023, attributed in part to the closure of automotive plants that adopted autonomous manufacturing systems. Meanwhile, Cambridge—just 200 miles away—posted its highest job growth rate in over a decade, driven by AI startups.
The result is a patchwork economy—one where prosperity is increasingly defined by proximity to innovation clusters.
Reinventing the Safety Net
Policymakers are now grappling with how to cushion the transition. Universal Basic Income (UBI), once considered radical, is gaining traction. In 2024, Spain expanded its UBI trial to include 200,000 displaced workers, and early data shows improved mental health and increased entrepreneurship among recipients.
Elsewhere, experiments in skills-based hiring are challenging the degree-dominated status quo. Companies are starting to recruit based on practical aptitude rather than formal education—a shift made possible by AI-driven testing tools.
Yet without stronger regulatory frameworks, analysts warn the automation divide could trigger social unrest. “When people lose not just income, but identity and purpose,” says Dr. Lo, “it undermines civic cohesion.”
Who Owns the Future?
Perhaps the most pressing question is not just who gets to work—but who profits. A 2025 white paper by the World Economic Forum warns that the consolidation of AI infrastructure into a handful of mega-corporations risks concentrating wealth and influence at the top.
Labour advocates are calling for new tax models, such as automation dividends—where companies that benefit from AI must pay into national retraining funds. Others propose data rights frameworks that would compensate users for the information used to train models.
The AI economy is still taking shape. But if its benefits are to be widely shared, bold policy choices will be required—and soon.
Sources:
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International Labour Organization: AI Job Impact Forecast
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World Economic Forum White Paper: AI and Economic Equity 2025
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Brookfield Institute Labour Study 2024
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French Ministry of Labour AI4All Initiative Report
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