The jobs apocalypse: a (very) short history
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Finance & economics | Techno-economics (1)<br>The jobs apocalypse: a (very) short history<br>Mass unemployment induced by AI would be unprecedented<br>Share
Illustration: Katie Martin
May 14th 2026|San Francisco|7 min read
AT NO TIME in polling history have Americans been less optimistic about their long-term employment prospects. The average person believes they have a 22% chance of losing their job in the next five years, according to one survey, a higher share than even during the global financial crisis of 2007-09. The cause of this gloom is artificial intelligence. Nearly one in five American workers recently told another pollster that AI or automation is “very” or “somewhat” likely to replace them.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The jobs apocalypse: a (very) short history”
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