'Can't ChatGPT do it?'

The cull of office jobs

- Jeevan Vasagar and Patricia Clarke

Hiring is slowing but AI may not be up to the task of fully replacing workers, write Jeevan Vasagar and Patricia Clarke

The predictions for white-collar work are apocalyptic - up to half of entry-level professional jobs eliminated and unemployment surging by the end of the decade. And across a range of industries over the past few weeks, the AI-related job losses have already begun.

From marketing to consulting to PR, swathes of jobs have been cut, and senior executives say hiring is cooling, with pushback from HR departments whose first question is: couldn't ChatGPT do that?

In advertising, a chill is sweeping through the labour market, with automation already eliminating many junior roles. Daren Rubins, co-founder of Conker, an executive search firm, described recent cuts in the advertising industry as "brutal" and extending to executive roles. Rubins said: "We have been absolutely inundated with people, including senior people."

A drumbeat of announcements has signalled the shift. At Microsoft nearly a third of code is written by artificial intelligence (AI). CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity provider, announced it was cutting 500 jobs, around 5% of its workforce, and that AI would "flatten" growth in future hiring. Labour market economists suggest this is a more likely immediate outcome than direct layoffs.