How AI Is Transforming Work, Jobs, and Wellbeing

While artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow at a fast pace, projected to hit $4.8 trillion by 2033, there are fears among people about this emerging dominant technology.

These fears are manifold, ranging from job loss and loss of control to bias, inequality, and erosion of privacy. Despite widespread fear about AI, the latest research suggests that AI may actually be improving various aspects of our work life.

However, it must be cautioned that it is just too soon to draw any definitive conclusions yet.

AI’s Explosive Integration & Resulting Economic Shift

AI mania has taken over the entire world. Over the past few years, it has evolved from a niche innovation to being used by everyone in almost every sphere of their lives.

Breakthroughs in machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) made AI more sophisticated, helping it gain widespread success.

In particular, ChatGPT brought about a dramatic surge in public interest in AI. A popular chatbot from Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which has the backing of Microsoft, boasts 400 million weekly users. OpenAI hopes to reach the milestone of 1 billion users by the end of this year.

However, what’s even more remarkable is that, within just five days of its release, ChatGPT had already surpassed 1 million users, and within two months of its launch, the active user base reached 100 million, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.

“In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app.”

– UBS analysts wrote at the time

Today, AI is being used by individuals and firms worldwide, which is being heralded as the new technology with the potential to transform our everyday lives as well as our professional processes.

The level of investment in AI is increasing at a very high rate. Half of the companies are already reporting using AI in at least one of their business areas, thanks to its numerous benefits like increased efficiency, improved decision-making, reduced human error, streamlined processes, personalized customer experiences, and innovation across industries. 

AI is basically expected to have transformative impacts on economic growth as well as reduce work-related risks. 

While studies have been looking into the impact of AI on productivity and labor market outcomes, those examining the impact of AI on workers’ well-being and health using longitudinal survey data have been lacking, which the latest study aims to address.

The study analyzes how the adoption of this technology in the workplace is affecting the health, well-being, and economic concerns of workers.

For data, the researchers have turned to Germany, which has committed significant investment in the tech. Also, the adoption of AI among German firms has grown significantly, from 2% before 2016 to 10% in 2021.

Germany, as researchers stated, makes for a strong case for studying the labor market effects of technological change due to the country’s strong labor institutions, including unions and protection legislation. 

These institutions, the study noted, shape AI adoption by negotiating terms that reduce the displacement of workers and enable equitable transitions. In contrast, countries like the US have weaker labor protections, greater worker vulnerability, and experience more abrupt disruptions.

Moreover, the industrial structure of Germany, with its strong foundation in high-skill manufacturing such as automotive and machinery, and specialized services like finance and IT, shapes the way the emerging technology is adopted across sectors. 

The study, meanwhile, noted that the effects of AI-driven automation, if it were to impact Germany’s labor markets significantly, would vary across sectors.

For instance, in manufacturing, AI can complement rather than replace skilled labor by serving as a tool for efficiency and precision due to the country’s emphasis on high-value production and a strong vocational training system.

But in service sectors like customer support, there might be automation-driven job restructuring. It basically depends on how the adoption of AI takes place across different industries. The study stated:

“More broadly, the extent to which AI displaces or augments jobs may hinge on factors such as task complexity, the need for human oversight, and the adaptability of training programs to evolving technological demands.” 

The study assesses these variations in different sectors to provide nuanced insights into how AI adoption interacts with skill development, labor protections, and economic structures to influence employment outcomes.

For their analysis, they used the measure of occupational exposure to AI developed by Michael Webb from Stanford University to study “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Labor Market.”

Pitt researchers defined this measure of occupational exposure based on the initial occupations of workers observed in the sample. The sample was restricted to individuals who entered the workforce before 2010, which is before the arrival of the technology in Germany, in order to mitigate the concerns that the rising importance of AI may have affected the self-selection of workers in their initial occupations.

The researchers then used an event study design and a difference­-in-differences (DiD) approach by comparing employees in low- and high-exposure professions before and after a massive increase in AI adoption across companies. 

The study results are consistent with prior studies documenting that AI exposure did not cause job losses.

How AI Is Affecting Workers’ Wellbeing and Jobs

With AI playing an increasingly important role in our lives, several studies have made attempts to understand its impact on the labor market and worker well-being. 

These studies have largely found AI exposure to have positive effects on both employment and wages. Effects reported by all these different studies include small wage gains in AI-exposed occupations, a positive relationship between exposure to AI and employment, the displacement effect of AI outweighing productivity-driven job creation, and job losses for low-skill and factory workers while benefiting well-paid and STEM occupations.

Researchers and experts alike have also raised concerns that AI could speed up the loss of middle-class job security by automating tasks without creating enough new roles for human workers.

But while studies have been analyzing the labor market effects of AI, there’s a gap in understanding the technology’s broader impact on worker well-being, and those that have addressed this have mainly focused on industrial robots and mechanized systems, which are different from the form of automation that AI brings to the table.

Instead of physical manipulation, AI depends on computer-based learning and cognitive processing. This technology actually comes with the potential to automate even those tasks that were once considered immune to mechanization. 

What this means is that AI may not only disrupt routine jobs, but also put even high-skilled, knowledge-based professionals at risk of being replaced. This means, the effects of AI will extend beyond just simple task automation as the technology becomes more advanced and capable of more complex reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

So, the researchers from the University of Pittsburgh conducted the study titled ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Wellbeing of Workers,’ which is published¹ in Nature: Scientific Reports, to investigate the relationship between AI and the well-being and health of workers.

The researchers used two decades of longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, between the period 2000 and 2020, to explore just how workers in AI-exposed occupations have fared in comparison to those who are working in less-exposed roles.

What the study has found is that there are no signs AI exposure is hurting people’s job satisfaction or mental health. Matter of fact, the exact opposite seems to be happening, as it may actually be easing the physical strain on the job.

Early evidence suggests that so far, AI exposure may be mildly improving their physical health. This is especially true for those without college degrees, by reducing tasks that are physically demanding.

“Public anxiety about AI is real, but the worst-case scenarios are not inevitable,” said Professor Luca Stella of the University of Milan and the Berlin School of Economics, who’s also affiliated with independent European bodies the Center for Economic Studies (CESifo) and the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA). 

So, not only are there no notable effects of exposure to AI on job or life satisfaction, but there are rather small improvements in self-rated health satisfaction, particularly among lower-educated workers.

“We find little evidence that AI adoption has undermined workers’ well-being on average. If anything, physical health seems to have slightly improved, likely due to declining job physical intensity and overall job risk in some of the AI-exposed occupations.”

– Stella

Among the key findings of the study are a marginal decline in weekly working hours, with inconsequential changes in employment or income rates. But of course, it’s still early days, caution researchers.

As the study notes, the analysis mainly depends on a task-based measure of AI exposure, as it is considered more objective. However, alternative estimates that are based on self-reported AI exposure suggest small negative effects on subjective well-being, which emphasizes the need for more detailed future research. Stella pointed out:

“We may simply be too early in the AI adoption curve to observe its full effects. AI’s impact could evolve dramatically as technologies advance, penetrate more sectors, and alter work at a deeper level.”

Then there’s the fact that the study does not cover young workers in its sample size. Moreover, it only covers the diffusion of AI, which is in its beginning stages, in the largest economy of Europe. 

Germany, which is seeing a gradual rate of AI adoption and is known for its strong labor protections, provided the researchers with a rich data supply. So, study outcomes may differ in other countries with more flexible labor markets. It may also be different for younger groups entering workplaces that are heavily dependent on AI.

“This research is an early snapshot, not the final word,” said Pitt’s Giuntella, who has previously explored robotics’ effect on labor. “As AI adoption accelerates, continued monitoring of its broader impacts on work and health is essential. Technology alone doesn’t determine outcomes; institutions and policies will decide whether AI enhances or erodes the conditions of work.”

AI Displacement Fears vs Job Augmentation Reality

So, the study shows the positive effect of AI, which can reduce physical strain in labor-intensive jobs, in turn, improving physical health as well as increasing cognitive and emotional demands in knowledge-intensive occupations.

AI has also been found by other researchers to be providing support and boosting productivity. 

A recent study² by Jung Ho Choi, an assistant professor of accounting at Stanford, along with Chloe Xie of MIT Sloan School of Management, found that AI is helping the accounting industry support more clients and provide better services. 

“AI helps with multitasking.”

– Choi 

More importantly, the increase in capacity doesn’t come at the expense of quality, with AI actually leading to a 12% rise in accounting firms keeping more detailed records. 

“If you think about the early adoption of anything, there is generally some trade-off between quantity and quality. Whereas in this instance, perhaps surprisingly, the trade-off is not so sharp. That’s probably most related to the fact that the technology is not here to replace the human being — it’s here to augment the experts who are already in place.”

– Xie

A paper³ released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Denmark, a couple of months ago, meanwhile, found AI to have a negligible effect on hours and pay. According to the paper, despite substantial investments made by firms that boost adoption, enhance workplace utility, and create new job tasks, economic impacts remain minimal.

Now, if we look at what workers think of the technology, there has been a rising concern among them about the consequences of AI on job opportunities. Many are scared that the growing adoption of this technology would mean they will be out of a job.

A Pew survey from this year reveals that 52% of workers worried about the future impact of AI use in the workplace, with 32% thinking that it will lead to fewer job opportunities for them in the long run. 

As per the survey, those with lower and middle incomes are more likely than upper-income individuals to say workplace AI use will reduce job opportunities for them. Additionally, workers in technology, accounting, banking, finance, real estate, and insurance are among the most likely to say that AI usage will lead to more job options.

It also shows that currently, only about one-in-six workers (16%) are using AI to do at least some of their work.

Overall, AI has begun to change the workplace with the potential to boost productivity and complement human skills. But at the same time, it is a very real possibility that it displaces workers in certain roles. According to the Pitt study:

“As with past technological revolutions, the ultimate labor market impact of AI will depend on the evolving balance between complementarity and substitution between AI and human labor. AI alters the nature of work itself, influencing job satisfaction, professional identity, and the perceived dignity of labor.”

Investing in the AI Revolution

In the world of AI, Salesforce (CRM +1.47%) is among the leading companies, which has automated a significant chunk of its work with the technology. Its CEO, Mark Benioff, revealed in an interview that “AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at Salesforce now.”

The customer relationship management (CRM) technology provider has been helping organizations reimagine their business for AI with Agentforce, a platform to build and customize autonomous AI agents to support employees and customers. There’s also Einstein AI to create personalized content across the Salesforce cloud.

Salesforce (CRM +1.47%)

When it comes to Salesforce’s market performance, the $261.6 billion market capitalization company’s shares, as of writing this, are trading at $274.80, down 18.15% YTD. It has an EPS (TTM) of 6.40 and a P/E (TTM) of 42.77 while offering a dividend yield of 0.61%.

As for its financial performance, the company reported a revenue of $9.8 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended April 30, 2025.

During this period, its subscription & support revenue was $9.3 billion while the GAAP operating margin was 19.8% and the non-GAAP operating margin was 32.3%. The remaining performance obligation was $29.6 billion. Operating cash flow in the quarter was $6.5 billion. The company returned $3.1 billion to its shareholders in 1Q26, which included $2.7 billion in share repurchases and $402 million in dividends.

Talking about delivering strong results, CEO Benioff noted building “a deeply unified enterprise AI platform—with agents, data, apps, and a metadata platform—that is unmatched in the industry.” 

Through Agentforce, Data Cloud, Slack, Tableau, and Customer 360 apps, it enables companies of every size to build a digital labor force to boost productivity, reduce costs, and accelerate growth, he added.

Salesforce has also shared its plans to acquire Informatica in a $8 billion deal in order to improve its competitive power in the AI market. Benioff called this “a transformational step in delivering enterprise-grade AI that is safe, responsible, and deeply integrated with the world’s data.”

Latest Salesforce (CRM) Stock News and Developments

Final Thoughts: Will AI Improve Human Wellbeing?

As AI technology continues to advance, it is getting more and more integrated into our daily lives. Amidst this increasing adoption, there is fear among people that it can lead to a significant loss of jobs. While the full impact of AI is yet to be seen, early signs, however, point to a more nuanced picture.

With AI reshaping how we work and find value, the future of this technology is multifaceted, and as long as appropriate measures are taken in terms of human-centered design and proactive worker support, AI might not only coexist with our well-being but could even enhance it.

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