New Research Shows Which Jobs AI Can Actually Do (And Which It Can’t)

Discover where AI helps and where it doesn’t, based on real usage.

Author

Glenda Carnate
January 28, 2026

Read time: 2.5 minutes

In a recent large-scale study examining thousands of authentic interactions between humans and an  AI, researchers concluded that the effect of AI on jobs will not be consistent across all job types. Additionally, the vast majority of workers will still have jobs today due to the many remaining options available for them.

When people think of AI finally being in our workplaces, they think about how it's going to automate or disrupt entire job sectors and make them obsolete. Is that true? What will happen to the way people do their jobs when they start using AI on a regular basis at work?

Researchers pulled 200,000 anonymized real conversations between people and a popular generative AI (Microsoft Bing Copilot) to see which tasks AI actually assists or performs. Their goal wasn’t prediction... it was measurement of actual AI applicability to work activities, mapped to real occupations. (Source: arxiv, 2025)

What Are the Implications of This Research on Work and Career?

1. AI is the best tool for “information” jobs.

If you work with facts (e.g., writing, communicating), AI can assist with these activities. Therefore, develop your expertise so that it complements AI instead of working against it.

2. Human judgment still matters.

AI may write and recommend, but humans will still need to quality check AI’s output and make adjustments for any particular context. Thus, develop your skills to both evaluate AI output and put it in context.

3. Automation can be partial or whole.

Certain tasks can be passed to AI; others will require AI to assist you. Know which tasks are “all” you, “all” AI, or “some” of each, and develop your abilities accordingly.

4. Not every job is affected in the same way.

Jobs that involve physical labour or “hands-on” tasks will typically be less impacted by AI; knowledge-based tasks will be at a higher risk of being automated. Therefore, non-routine, creative, and/or people-oriented jobs are less likely to be harmed by AI than other types of jobs.

5. Real use of AI is more important than theory.

This research has been conducted using actual jobs where AI has been used, not predicted uses. Therefore, make career decisions based on what is happening today, not hype regarding future technology.

💡Key Takeaway: 

Although AI will not directly eliminate jobs all at once, it does change the skills that will be important in the future. Human judgment continues to play a role in most tasks at present; however, jobs that require the creation of information, the ability to communicate with others better, and managing contextual knowledge are jobs that have already been impacted by AI technology. To gain an edge in your career, focus on augmenting rather than replacing AI.

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