A, a person in their late 30s working at a professional translation company, has recently seen a sharp decline in work. He primarily handled localization of games developed by overseas companies, particularly Chinese firms, but work has disappeared as artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over the first round of translation. “About half of the company’s employees are on unpaid leave due to lack of work,” A said. “I’m worried that the job I worked hard to get after studying might disappear as AI continues to advance.”

AI is rapidly replacing white-collar office and professional jobs. While robots still cannot perform tasks as precisely as humans, AI excels at collecting, analyzing, planning, and writing—tasks it performs better than humans. Companies have begun experimenting with AI to replace human labor for simple administrative tasks. According to the U.S. consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of layoffs announced by U.S. companies from January to November 2025 was 1.17 million, a 54% increase from the previous year (760,000). Of these, 54,694 layoffs were attributed to AI. Since 2023, when AI was first cited as a reason for layoffs, 71,683 job cuts have been linked to AI, with 76.3% occurring last year. This has led to analyses suggesting that AI-driven job losses are accelerating.

◇Translation, video production hit hardest

According to the “tip of the iceberg” indicator published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) research team last November, AI can currently replace 2.2% of all jobs in the labor market. However, the researchers view this as just the “tip of the iceberg.” Currently, AI-exposed jobs are limited to computer engineers, data scientists, and similar roles. The research team predicts that AI will eventually impact administrative, financial, and professional services sectors, affecting 11.7% of the U.S. labor market, equivalent to HirBetolteseOszlop1.2 trillion in wages (approximately 1.733 trillion Korean won).

In a July paper titled *Working with AI*, Microsoft listed 40 jobs that AI could replace. The top six were: 1) translators, 2) historians, 3) writers, 4) service sales representatives, 5) CNC (computer numerical control) tool programmers, and 6) broadcasters and radio DJs. This suggests that AI could replace not only repetitive tasks but also creative roles, communication-based jobs, and those requiring strategic thinking. 

The content industry, which produces ads and videos, is facing direct job losses due to AI. The emergence of video-generating AIs like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo, which create videos based on simple descriptions, has allowed companies to produce ads with fewer people, in less time, and at lower costs. Lee, 44, who ran a small video production business, said, “Clients are now making their own introductory videos in-house, leading to an overall decline in work.”

◇AI taking entry-level jobs

AI is now a direct threat to new graduates entering the workforce and low-skilled workers in administrative, secretarial, and machine operation roles. In a November report, the U.K.’s National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) warned that 1 million to 3 million jobs in low-skilled sectors such as administration, secretarial work, customer service, and machine operation could disappear by 2035. According to venture capital firm SignalFire, hiring of 2024 college graduates at 15 major U.S. tech companies decreased by 24.8% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, hiring of employees with 2–5 years of experience increased by 27.2%. A Harvard University study also found that after the release of ChatGPT in late November 2022, companies adopting AI increased senior hiring but reduced junior hiring by 9%.

The tech industry anticipates that AI-driven job disruptions, currently centered on office jobs, will expand to blue-collar roles as AI combines with robotics. “It’s time to rethink the current social contract based on human labor,” said Professor Seo Yong-seok from KAIST. “There is an urgent need to establish new norms and agreements to prepare for the massive changes AI will bring to the job market.”

Source: chosun.com