According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), AI currently has enough cognitive and technical capabilities to perform tasks in many fields such as technology, finance, and medicine.
The new research was conducted on the Iceberg Index, a labor simulation tool developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The group analyzed 151 million American workers, 923 occupations, more than 32,000 skills and found that 11.7% of the force could be replaced by AI, equivalent to 1.2 trillion USD in wages.
Illustration of robot working with humans. Image: Google Gemini
MIT divides the impact of AI on the workforce into two groups, including “tangible” – layoffs or changes in roles in the technology industry, and “hidden” – changes in staffing, logistics and administration. Visible cuts are largely concentrated in tech hubs, but hidden cuts are occurring across a broader geographic range, covering all 50 states, including rural areas. States like Delaware, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Utah have a higher hidden impact than California – where many technology companies are concentrated.
MIT emphasizes that the Iceberg Index is not a job loss prediction tool but only helps visualize the tasks that AI currently undertakes. “We are essentially creating a digital twin of the American labor market,” Prasanna Balaprakash, director of ORNL and study co-author, explained to CNBC.
The Iceberg Index is considered useful in supporting policy making. The Tennessee state government cited this index in its AI Workforce Action Plan, while Utah is also preparing for a similar move.
MIT said the new research can help policymakers identify “hot spots” to prioritize training, skills enhancement and infrastructure investment. This could also be an ideal testing location before the US spends billions of dollars on human resource training programs.