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Illustration: Laura Wächter

Over the past few months, several surveys and media reports have highlighted how artificial-intelligence technologies will increasingly displace workers. And a growing number of companies mention AI as a factor in planned or actual lay-offs. For instance, data from Challenger, a recruitment firm in Chicago, Illinois, that tracks companies’ public announcements, suggests that, in 2025, AI might have been responsible for seven times as many lay-offs in the United States as were the international tariffs the US government have imposed, which are currently a major source of economic disruption globally.

Such warnings have fuelled widespread expectations that the labour market might be on the verge of upheaval. The most drastic forecasts compare the current moment with the First Industrial Revolution (1760–1830), when mechanization ultimately improved living standards but caused widespread disruption to workers’ livelihoods over the short term.

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