Key takeaways
- AI and automation could replace nearly 100 million jobs in the US across the next decade.
- 47% of truck drivers are predicted to lose their positions within that time frame.
- 65% of teaching assistants will lose their jobs, too, according to the report.
A new government report has found that AI and other forms of automation might replace almost 100 million jobs in the US across the next decade.
The news, out from Senator Bernie Sanders and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, predicts job losses of 40% among registered nurses and a full 47% of truck drivers, the latter of which work within an industry facing plenty of other existential threats.
We’ve already covered more than a few waves of AI-related job losses in the years since generative AI first emerged. Now one of the biggest tech sectors powered the US economy today, AI might just reshaped job markets for many more years to come.
AI “Could Replace Nearly 100 Million Jobs”
The big “100 million jobs” number is just the start, Senator Sanders explains in his statement about the report: Certain sectors will be hit harder than others.
“As the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), I released a report today finding that AI, automation and robotics could replace nearly in America over the next decade, including 40% of registered nurses, 47% of truck drivers, 64% of accountants, 65% of teaching assistants and 89% of fast food workers, among many other occupations,” he says.
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2025 👨💻
“And as bad as that may seem,” Sanders adds, “I am afraid it may be an underestimate.”
Companies Shifting to Automation Include Amazon, Foxconn
The cuts are coming to many blue collar jobs in addition to white collar ones, the report indicates.
While discussing job losses in manufactoring, Sanders notes robotics companies that are evolving the trucking landscape, from Aurora and Gatik to Kodiak Robotics and Waymo.
“Millions of jobs in transportation will be eliminated. This is not science fiction. It’s already happening.” -Senator Bernie Sanders
In a statement about the report, Sanders notes that many large corporations have already laid of thousands across the past few years amid continuing automation efforts. Amazon has laid off 27,000 workers since 2022, while huge manufacturing contractor Foxconn has replaced 60,000 workers in one factory in China with robots.
Automation Doesn’t Have to Hurt Workers
What’s the solution? Sanders has a handful of them.
He calls for a shift to a 32-hour workweek, with no loss in pay, so that American workers can reclaim a little of the value that increased automation allows them to generate, a requirement that “large corporations to allow workers to elect at least 45 percent of the members of their boards of directors,” and an increase in profit sharing.
Other suggstions include an expansion of the concept of employee ownership and a robot tax on large corporations.
