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About one in three Americans has used an AI tool like ChatGPT to assist with a career change, according to a new report from Southeastern Oklahoma University (SOU),
The report, published Monday and based on a survey of 1,000 Americans spanning four generations, set out to understand the role that AI is playing in a moment of extreme fluidity and change throughout the US labor market: Over half of workers surveyed said they're actively considering a job or career change. This is most pronounced in Gen Zers (57%), followed by millennials (55%), Gen X (50%), and baby boomers (12%).
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Of the survey respondents who said AI is playing some kind of a role in their job or career change, many reported using it to draft resumes and cover letters (43%) or research new job opportunities, including those that could pay more than their current role (47%).
Nearly one in five (18%) said AI suggested an entirely new career path that they hadn't previously considered.
AI versus human guidance
All of this AI-generated career assistance and advice is tempered, however, by a relative lack of trust in the information that's being provided.
The majority of respondents (60%) said they'd still trust a human career adviser more than AI, while only a small minority (7%) said the opposite. Some (17%) said they've gone with the career advice provided to them by AI even when it contradicted advice they'd previously received from a human career counselor.
Across age groups, respondents said they're mainly looking into new career opportunities in technology fields, followed by healthcare and finance.
The SOU study follows closely on the heels of another survey that found the majority of people who use Google don't have much trust in AI Overviews -- the company's AI-powered summarization feature that appears at the top of a Google search -- even while broad-scale adoption of AI continues to grow.
A shifting landscape
While some are using AI tools to launch a new chapter of their careers, others say the tech will soon push many humans out of the labor market.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, has predicted that AI will eliminate half of all white collar jobs within the next five years. More recently, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in an interview that AI-enabled automation will certainly replace some human workers, while also making other jobs "more interesting" and creating entirely new roles.
Data has shown that tech companies also seem to be hiring fewer recent college graduates with computer science degrees as AI tools start to take over many of the routine tasks that previously would have been delegated to younger, less experienced employees.
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The escalating talent war among big tech firms is also shifting dynamics within Silicon Valley. As companies race to build artificial general intelligence, or even superintelligence, a higher premium is being placed on those relatively few talented AI researchers who can theoretically help unlock major technical breakthroughs. Meta has offered multimillion-dollar starting salaries for positions in its new superintelligence lab, and Google recently poached leaders from AI start-up Windsurf instead of acquiring the whole company.
As the fervor of the AI race grows, so too could the wealth disparity between the most successful and experienced researchers and those who are just trying to get their foot in the door.
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