The Artificial Intelligence Show · Thursday, August 6, 2026
There is conflicting information regarding AI's effect on employment. While Anthropic's head of economics, Peter McCreery, suggests AI is augmenting workers and predicts no noticeable increase in unemployment, other research indicates job losses in AI-exposed fields. For instance, Stanford research shows a 16% employment drop for younger workers (22-25) in such jobs, and Bloomberg reported significant job shedding in tech and finance.
“So Anthropic's head of economics, Peter McCreery, published an essay recently asking, why hasn't AI increased unemployment? He pulled from 18 months of Anthropic research, noted that unemployment still sat at 4.2% in June, about which is a very, very low rate.”
“So he concludes that AI is just augmenting workers, not replacing them. And he actually says he does not expect unemployment to be noticeably higher a year from now.”
“Now, that wasn't the story though at many other firms over this quarter. So Stanford research showed a 16% employment drop for workers 22 to 25 in AI exposed jobs.”
“Bloomberg reported tech and finance shedding around 28,000 jobs a month.”