{"id":4889,"date":"2026-07-21T23:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/will-ai-help-you-do-your-job-or-replace-you\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:23:04","slug":"will-ai-help-you-do-your-job-or-replace-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/will-ai-help-you-do-your-job-or-replace-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Will AI help you do your job or replace you?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Will AI help you do your job or replace you?<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"ssrcss-2tljqw-Spacer e1aon0op0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"byline\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"multi-byline\"><span><span class=\"ssrcss-16u1n8p-TextContributorName epw3ir01\">Faisal Islam<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\">,&nbsp;<\/span>Economics editor<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\">,&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span class=\"ssrcss-16u1n8p-TextContributorName epw3ir01\">Phil Leake<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\">,&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span class=\"ssrcss-16u1n8p-TextContributorName epw3ir01\">Miguel Roca-Terry<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\">,&nbsp;<\/span>Data journalists<\/span><\/span><span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\">&nbsp;<!-- -->and<!-- -->&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-16u1n8p-TextContributorName epw3ir01\">Jess Carr<\/span><span class=\"ssrcss-1ai8n1t-Text e1xjs3jz0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\">,&nbsp;<\/span>Data designer<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"rich-text\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nqezkk-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies are making vast claims about the ability of their tools to replace human labour.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some jobs will be automated, others will be &#8220;augmented&#8221;. The bosses of the world&#8217;s biggest companies are diverting vast sums into these tools, partly with the knowledge that they could save money on headcount.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Flat is the new up&#8221;, we are told, in terms of the size of a company&#8217;s workforce as investors ask whether jobs should be done by new recruits &#8211; or, instead, armies of &#8220;AI Agents&#8221;, virtual workers tasked with doing specific roles, some of them relatively skilled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If even half true there will be an impact on us all, across sectors and individual careers, and perhaps it will happen sooner than we think. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Nobel prize-winning economists recently warned the world \u201cmust act now\u201d to ensure that AI leads to rising living standards and not large-scale job displacement, and last month London businesses warned they were struggling to find the skills they need as AI disrupts the jobs market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is early days yet, but there are already some notable patterns in the data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"image\" class=\"ssrcss-bcrzx2-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"ssrcss-1uy5kw5-FullWidthWrapper ep2nwvo1\">\n<figure class=\"ssrcss-hc6arm-StyledFigure e34k3c22\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ab5fd8-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c21\"><span class=\"ssrcss-1v0k8tb-Placeholder etlorgc0\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/240\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/320\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/480\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/624\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/800\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/976\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png.webp 976w\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A chart showing the proportion of tasks completed by selected AI models, by the estimated time it would take a human expert to do the same task. The proportion of tasks completed by model and time is as follows:\nGPT-4, released March 2023, completed 85% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 15% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 0% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\nGPT-4o, released May 2024, completed 83% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 15% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 0% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\nClaude 3.5 Sonnet (New) (Inspect), released October 2024, completed 88% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 42% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 3% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\no3 (Inspect), released April 2025, completed 98% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 85% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 17% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\nGemini 3.1 Pro, released February 2026, completed 99% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 96% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 46% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\nClaude Mythos Preview (early), released April 2026, completed 99% of tasks taking up to 5 minutes, 96% of tasks taking between 5 and 59 minutes, and 67% of tasks taking longer than an hour.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9HFBSB.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/240\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/320\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/480\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/624\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/800\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/976\/cpsprodpb\/ad9e\/live\/c1701950-84f1-11f1-926f-c90d1bcfbc84.png 976w\" width=\"1600\" height=\"2884.1973766396004\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"rich-text\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nqezkk-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This chart is the industry benchmark for how various models can perform the tasks previously done by humans, in this case using and developing computer software.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This measure showed that three years ago, large language models (LLMs) were only able to reliably complete tasks humans took seconds or minutes to do. Now they are increasingly able to complete fairly complex tasks taking an hour or so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Now, some of the LLMs can find problems in a cryptocurrency contract and even develop and streamline the model itself, which would take a human several hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The latest generation of models could start to entirely develop themselves in the next year or so. This is just software coding, but the same type of pattern is being seen, at an earlier stage, with financial analysis, early stage legal work, even some entry level creative industry jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"flourish\" class=\"ssrcss-bcrzx2-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ntg3zu-FlourishWrapper eockrme0\">\n<div id=\"29694007\">\n<div data-component=\"include-html\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29694007\/embed?auto=1\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\" style=\"width:100%;\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"rich-text\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nqezkk-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">What does that mean for jobs? The most thorough analyses out there come from the United States, using four years of data on employment outcomes by age among a range of occupations most exposed to AI (including software developers and customer contact reps) &#8211; and least exposed to AI (health workers, childcare workers, hairdressers).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Stanford University&#8217;s analysis of wage and jobs data finds a hit to employment for 22 to 25-year-olds of 2.7% since ChatGPT became widespread, rising to 12.8% in the most AI-exposed sectors such as finance, software and creative industries. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Not all economists agree, arguing that other factors such as interest rate rises can explain this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"flourish\" class=\"ssrcss-bcrzx2-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ntg3zu-FlourishWrapper eockrme0\">\n<div id=\"29650735\">\n<div data-component=\"include-html\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29650735\/embed?auto=1\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\" style=\"width:100%;\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"rich-text\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nqezkk-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Online jobs postings have also been affected since the launch of ChatGPT and other LLMs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There are many other factors here, from interest rates to taxes, however there is something of note in the OECD&#8217;s recent analysis of the difference in jobs posting between its slightly different measure of highly exposed sectors (eg telemarketing and legal services) and less exposed sectors (construction, cleaning and food prep).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The UK was hit quite notably on this measure at a time when rates were stable or being cut. It also predates last year&#8217;s National Insurance rise. On most international measures, the UK&#8217;s service sector concentration leaves it exposed to potential AI jobs losses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"flourish\" class=\"ssrcss-bcrzx2-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-ntg3zu-FlourishWrapper eockrme0\">\n<div id=\"29692993\">\n<div data-component=\"include-html\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29692993\/embed?auto=1\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\" style=\"width:100%;\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"text\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-126h8e-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"rich-text\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nqezkk-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">AI usage is measured in &#8220;tokens&#8221;, which are small chunks of text that AI systems use to understand, analyse and generate language. On average, one token is roughly equivalent to three-quarters of an English word.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There have been astonishing increases in AI use in 2026, and the increase in token use has vastly outweighed the declining \u201cper token cost\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The world&#8217;s top companies that are using AI had deployed &#8220;token leaderboards&#8221; to try to get their employees to create as much gain in productivity as possible from the most advanced models.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Trillions, and sometimes thousands of trillions of tokens (quadrillions) have been used over the past few months primarily for \u201cagentic use\u201d, which is for agents that can perform tasks automatically. The problem here is that incredible bills were racked up, so much so that many of those companies have now begun to ration the use of these models.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This is important. It might show that there are limits to how much work could be automated. The virtual workers might be more expensive than the human ones. It depends on the task.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">One factor to watch out for however, is that many companies, including Western ones, are diverting to much cheaper forms of AI, derived from Chinese models that are provided freely on to the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">So there is much uncertainty here, but some clear trends emerging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-8ppqmm-Wrap e42f8511\">\n<div data-block=\"topicList\" class=\"ssrcss-1sp09lk-ComponentWrapper e1aon0op1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-tcr9z1-Spacer e1aon0op0\">\n<div data-testid=\"topic-list\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nj9heb-StyledTagContainer ed0g1kj1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pfbb52-TopicListHeaderWrapper etw6iwl0\">\n<h2 type=\"normal\" class=\"ssrcss-89o2pv-Heading e10rt3ze0\">Related topics<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17ehax8-Cluster e1ihwmse1\">\n<ul role=\"list\" spacing=\"2\" class=\"ssrcss-w8zanw-ClusterItems e1ihwmse0\">\n<li>Artificial intelligence<\/li>\n<li>Employment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Published at Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:04:42 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will AI help you do your job or replace you? Faisal Islam,&nbsp;Economics editor,&nbsp;Phil Leake,&nbsp;Miguel Roca-Terry,&nbsp;Data journalists&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jess Carr,&nbsp;Data designer Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies are making vast claims about the ability of their tools to replace human labour. Some jobs will be automated, others will be &#8220;augmented&#8221;. The bosses of the world&#8217;s biggest companies are diverting vast&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/will-ai-help-you-do-your-job-or-replace-you\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Will AI help you do your job or replace you?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}