- COMMENT
Current evidence points to modest effects of artificial-intelligence tools on jobs, highlighting how bad data, not sweeping automation, is driving much of today’s alarm.
By
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Martha Gimbel
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Martha Gimbel is the executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University, based in Washington DC.
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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.
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Nature 651, 881-882 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00883-4
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.
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