- Most jobs will experience moderate AI transformation rather than wholesale replacement, with workers needing to shift from doing tasks to directing AI.
- Labor market conditions show a frozen hiring environment with entry-level positions especially hard hit, despite low overall unemployment.
- Organizations must invest in skills-based hiring and reskilling programs to help workers collaborate effectively with AI tools.
Sooner or later, AI will impact every job, in every industry, around the world.
It's a sentiment everyone can't stop talking about, but the reality of it may not be as dramatic as recent headlines want you to think.
With a real-time view into millions of job postings, Indeed has an insider look at how the workforce is changing. According to data from the Indeed Hiring Lab, about 95% of jobs posted on Indeed still don't mention AI. What this points to in terms of AI's impact on the workforce is perhaps something more gradual and optimistic: a redesign of roles, skills, and even career paths.
That's certainly a perspective shared by Maggie Hulce, chief revenue officer at Indeed, at a recent roundtable in New York City, part of the Futureproofing Your Workforce in the Age of AI series hosted by Business Insider and sponsored by Indeed.
"Our research shows that roles that are more cognitive — those that don't need as much physical or in-person interaction — are most exposed to AI change," Hulce said. "But that exposure does not automatically mean replacement."
Her words underscore an essential truth: technology alone can't unlock productivity gains. The human element is equally important. That means it's up to organizations and job seekers to learn just how roles and skills are changing — and train up to work with new technologies.
A labor market in transition
"At Indeed, we see the labor market in real time across roles, industries, and geographies," said Hulce. "Right now it's pretty clear that talent needs are changing faster than our traditional planning cycles."
From Hulce's perspective, recent signals indicate a disconnect between how companies have traditionally hired and how work is evolving. "Many tech companies hired into the post-COVID boom and then realized that they were a little too big for what they needed to do," noted Hulce.
And it's not just the tech sector that's feeling it. Many sectors are seeing hiring slow, even as demand for talent remains high. This reality is especially hard to navigate for early-career workers, as fewer entry-level roles and rising expectations for day-one productivity make it more difficult for them to enter the workforce. This may have longer-term implications for the talent pipeline, but the good news is that this trend appears more related to an overall slowdown in hiring than to AI replacing jobs.
For employers, this is a moment to think about the hiring process as more than just a one-time decision. The growing gap between workforce models built for stability and a labor market defined by constant change will require employers to have a more intentional approach to how talent is introduced, developed, and supported.
A human-first approach to AI
The Indeed Hiring Lab's latest Global Labor Market and Workforce Trends Report found that only about a quarter of jobs are highly transformable by GenAI. The report also found that a large percentage of jobs will experience "hybrid" transformation (40%), where AI assists with tasks, but humans still lead the work. And less than 1% of job skills are fully transformable today.
When read together, the data suggests AI is more likely to reshape how work gets done than replace it outright. "The real question employers are struggling with is, 'How do we help our employees figure out how to work alongside AI?'" Hulce said.
As an employer, the first step in answering this question is providing proper support and training for AI adoption. It's never been more important to shift employees away from rote or routine tasks and into higher-value work, a value-add that's uniquely human. Over 80% of AI users report saving at least one hour daily, which inevitably frees up time for more meaningful work.
Relatedly, Hulce noted that this represents a major AI-related shift in the workplace: going from teams doing all the work by hand to teams directing the work. That means overseeing AI, exercising judgment, and integrating outputs into higher-level strategy. She gave the example of sales managers revamping training programs for front-line salespeople with the help of AI. "The tools that are available and the insight that's available can allow managers to coach more on point, more effectively," she said.
In other words, the competitive edge for both employers and employees will come from those who know how to collaborate effectively with AI. It's something Hulce has seen among employees in her own organization. "They're coming up with some amazing things that are having real business impact," she said.
What rings true for Hulce is that the companies poised to succeed in the era of AI are those that can balance the technology with human expertise. "We know that tech alone isn't going to deliver all of the productivity gains," said Hulce. "We still need people to guide the work."
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This post was created by Insider Studios with Indeed
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