https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/08/ais-impact-on-labor-and-hiring/

individuals who had been exposed to generative AI tools appeared to be left with bleaker expectations for job availability and income inequality

while AI adoption is rising quickly across industries, firms report very few AI-driven layoffs

The data, then, indicate that AI’s labor-market impact has more to do with changing skill requirements than eliminating jobs—at least so far.

firms overwhelmingly intend to retrain workers rather than fire them as they adopt AI

we need not assume, as some have speculated, that AI adoption will only spare jobs that focus on physical tasks and personal care

AI will likely render many goods and services far cheaper than at present, making us effectively richer.

A world in which our consumption patterns become less about need-based absolutes (“how much food did you eat?”) than status-driven comparisons (“how much cooler was your meal than mine?”) is a world where outcomes—as economists see them—will almost certainly be wasteful.