Overview
- MIT and Oak Ridge researchers estimate current systems could automate tasks equal to roughly $1.2 trillion in wages, using a large‑scale Iceberg Index simulation of 151 million workers.
- Authors stress exposure is not a layoff forecast, even as reporting links more than 100,000 U.S. job cuts in 2025 to AI‑related restructuring.
- Regional patterns show higher vulnerability in states with concentrated tech and finance roles such as Washington, Virginia, Delaware, California, and Utah, with lower exposure in Mississippi and Wyoming; Texas and North Carolina rank high despite lower current use.
- Creative‑sector unions are securing concrete guardrails, with Vancouver animators’ contracts requiring consultation before AI adoption, shielding against AI‑driven plagiarism, and assigning credit to human revisers.
- Policy debate is intensifying, as the IMF discourages an AI‑specific tax yet floats higher capital or excess‑profits levies to balance gains from automation.