A new study from Anthropic shows that artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the labor market in an uneven way, creating an increasing skill gap between groups of workers.
According to Mr. Peter McCrory, head of economics at Anthropic, the labor market is still developing strongly and has not recorded signs of widespread job losses caused by AI.
People who use AI tools like Claude in their work, from writing technical documents, entering data to programming, do not have significantly different unemployment rates compared to the group with less exposure to AI.
However, this picture can change quickly. Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, once warned that AI could eliminate up to half of low-end office jobs and push the unemployment rate to 20% in the next 5 years.
However, according to McCrory, what is noteworthy now is not job loss, but skill differentiation.
Anthropic's latest economic impact report shows that early AI users are exploiting technology much more effectively.
They not only use AI for simple tasks, but also take advantage of it as a thinking partner to improve work, analyze and provide in-depth feedback.
Conversely, most users still only exploit a small part of AI's capabilities. This creates a clear advantage for pioneers who know how to integrate AI into their daily workflows.
According to McCrory, AI is gradually becoming a technology that amplifies capabilities, where users will become better and better.
This distance not only exists between individuals, but is also clearly shown geographically.
The report points out that the use of AI is more concentrated in high-income countries, especially those with large intellectual labor forces.
Meanwhile, developing economies tend to approach more slowly, making the risk of falling behind even clearer.
Notably, young workers (the new group entering the market) may be most affected. As AI gradually takes on basic jobs, their initial experience accumulation opportunities may be narrowed.
Faced with potential fluctuations, McCrory emphasized the need to establish a monitoring system to monitor the impact of AI in real time.
This helps policymakers promptly respond appropriately, limiting the risk of mass job losses if the trend of automation accelerates.
In that context, the clear message is that AI has not replaced humans immediately, but is reshaping the game. In this race, those who understand and master technology will be the group with the biggest advantage.
