While technology and digitization are helping some jobs grow, they're expediting the decline of others, according to this year's Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum. By 2027, the report forecasts, there could be 26 million fewer jobs in bookkeeping, executive secretarial work, administration, and similar areas of work. AI--and generative AI, in particular--is expected to play a key role here. In April, a Goldman Sachs report estimated that 300 million jobs could be "exposed to automation" thanks to recent AI advancements. But jobs don't disappear overnight, Frey cautions: Switchboard operators and elevator operators, for instance, faded over the course of many years. And while AI requires less physical infrastructure--which could speed up the uptake--Frey's "hunch is that it is not going to improve quite as fast as some people expect."
