The WEF totally whiffs it.

In early 2023, the World Economic Forum (WEF) made a bold and truly pants-wetting prediction: AI would obliterate 85 million jobs by 2025. That’s like wiping out the entire population of California. Twice. Yikes.

Well, it’s 2025 now. And unless I blacked out and missed some apocalyptic LinkedIn updates, it looks like the WEF may have gotten a liiiiittle panicky back in 2023. But hey, let’s be charitable. Maybe the WEF meant by the *end* of 2025. In that case, we better start seeing about 8 million jobs a month evaporate starting now. Corporate America, do what you do best — fire faster!

Here’s my take: it ain’t gonna happen. While exact numbers are hard to come by (AI hasn’t cracked “accurate job statistics” yet), estimates suggest AI-related job losses are in the low tens of thousands — hardly the apocalypse. Meanwhile, AI-related job gains are approaching a million. Funny how that didn’t make the headlines, huh?

The lesson here? Take scary AI predictions with a heaping tablespoon of salt. Better yet, pour the whole shaker. Looking back at these forecasts often reveals how easy it is to lose our collective minds with "doomscrollable" ideas about AI-induced chaos.

Now, here’s what I do predict: AI is going to change the workplace, but not with a blockbuster Hollywood explosion. What’s more likely is a lot more mundane –– it’ll sneak into your workflows like that mystery coworker who sneaks into the fridge and weirdly steals people’s lunches. You’ll use AI to do your job faster, often dramatically better, sometimes joyfully, other times it'll feel like a chore. But it’s happening.

The real challenge isn’t an extinction-level event for jobs; it’s adapting to the new normal. Those of you old enough to remember the ’90s may recall that, at first, the digital revolution seemed mostly optional – cool for computer dorks, but normal people felt they could comfortably take a pass. I know because I was one of those people. And guess what? We could not have been more wrong. But I see a lot of the same attitude among office workers today – people taking a *wait-and-see approach*, maybe hoping AI will die a quiet death. But here’s a safe bet – companies don’t invest trillions in technology and walk away if it doesn’t pan out immediately. Especially when they see trillions more on the table.

So, AI is here to stay. I truly don’t believe it’s here to take your job (or destroy humanity). But what it is likely to do is create a mundane revolution: a slow roll of process and workflow changes that will seem new and unfamiliar at first but will soon be simply the way everybody does everything.

So don’t panic about the Job Killer version of AI. Worry about falling behind in this quiet, sneaky revolution. The future isn’t about surviving AI; it’s about learning to thrive with it. And maybe, just maybe, fact-checking the WEF’s next big prediction.