Artificial intelligence was the biggest story in business this year, and it reverberated throughout the workplace and labor market on several levels. While it hasn’t quite led to the jobs apocalypse people were expecting, it has certainly started to reshape which roles are in-demand, where opportunities are found and how workers collaborate with their new virtual colleagues.
Top AI Trends Shaping Work in 2025
- Employees are clinging to their jobs — and cracking under pressure.
- AI is eliminating entry-level white-collar jobs, driving more young people to the trades.
- The AI talent war is turning top researchers into millionaires.
- More applicants are using ChatGPT to land a job.
- ChatGPT is becoming the new Glassdoor.
- AI giants are launching their own job boards.
- Some workers are resisting AI.
- Employees are creating “workslop.”
- Professionals are training AI for cash.
Inside the AI Job Market Shakeup
AI’s impact on the job market cannot be distilled in one clean trend, but rather in various sharp contrasts. Workers are feeling more uneasy and burned out by AI, but are too afraid to leave their jobs. Entire career paths are being created and destroyed in real time. And while some roles are stagnating or disappearing altogether, others are becoming remarkably lucrative. The result is a labor market in flux, where both anxiety and opportunity exist side by side as AI adoption accelerates.
Employees are Clinging to Their Jobs — And Cracking Under Pressure
As businesses scramble to adopt AI, they have been reluctant to hire more people until they know how this technology will impact their staffing needs. This uncertainty, combined with the unknown impact of President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, has led to a stagnant hiring market. Throw in all the mass layoffs and dire job market predictions from the world’s top AI developers, and it’s easy to see why workers are fearful about their professional future.
This growing sense of anxiety has led some workers to hang on to their jobs for dear life — a phenomenon some analysts have dubbed “job hugging.” Just because they stay doesn’t mean they’re happy, though. Instead, the employees who feel burned out by staffing shortages or overwhelmed by the pressure to find a use case for AI are “quiet cracking,” a term used to describe a “persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance and an increased desire to quit.”
AI is Eliminating Entry-Level White Collar Jobs, Pushing More Young Workers to the Trades
AI has led to a contraction in white-collar work, particularly at the entry level. Roles in data entry and customer support, which once served as stepping stones to a professional career, are increasingly getting automated. As a result, more young people are considering blue-collar jobs, particularly skilled trades like plumbing, electrical and construction, which require physical skills that are much harder to replace with artificial intelligence. In addition to being largely automation-proof, these jobs are in-demand — in part because of all the data centers being built right now — and offer a decent amount of financial security.
The AI Talent War Is Turning Top Researchers Into Millionaires
While most of the job market moved at a fairly slow, unpredictable pace, one profession was in extremely high demand: AI researchers. As companies race to establish dominance in the early innings of the AI arms race, top AI talent is now extraordinarily valuable, with tech giants like Meta and OpenAI shelling out massive compensation packages to recruit someone they think will push them to the forefront.
A PhD in computer science paired with a deep expertise in niche AI subfields and a proven track record at a top firm could command tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars for a four-year contract — paychecks more typical of professional athletes than tech employees. For those at the very top of this so-called “talent war,” the opportunities are unprecedented, but so is the competition.
Job Hunting In the Age of AI
In 2025, job seekers and recruiters found themselves navigating a brutal hiring landscape that is increasingly being shaped by artificial intelligence. Applicants are turning to AI tools not only to write resumes and prepare for interviews, but also to research companies and decide where they want to apply in the first place. All the while, companies are struggling to manage their reputations and reach the right candidates. AI firms themselves are stepping into the hiring process directly as well, launching their own job boards.
More Applicants Are Using ChatGPT to Land a Job
The 2025 hiring market was widely regarded as a bit of a hellscape, with applicants and recruiters locked in a sort of AI-fueled game of cat-and-mouse. Many applicants turned to ChatGPT to churn out more applications and improve their chances of being noticed. ChatGPT isn’t just about volume, though; it also allows applicants to customize their resumes and cover letters for specific roles, increasing their ranking in recruiters’ applicant tracking systems. Recruiters, on the other hand, are being inundated with a deluge of AI-generated applications, causing them to tighten their ATS filters and include additional screening steps.
The application process has gotten so frustrating that some job seekers have resorted to embedding hidden prompts in their resumes, burying small white text at the bottom of the document that tells AI-powered tracking systems to recommend them for “immediate hiring.” But the truth is that, while many ATS systems rank and filter candidates, recruiters still review resumes manually for the most part, especially if they’re going to reach out and schedule an interview. And because these systems remove formatting from resumes, the small white text becomes visible to recruiters, who are not impressed by applicants’ efforts to game the system.
ChatGPT Is Becoming the New Glassdoor
Job seekers aren’t just using ChatGPT to write their resumes. They’re also using it to discover and evaluate prospective employers, researching things like a company’s culture and benefits, as well as its reputation among employees, to determine whether it’s a place they’d like to work in the first place.
As this process shifts from company career pages to chatbots, recruiting teams are finding it difficult to control how their employer brand shows up and gets shared with potential applicants. Companies that aren’t visible in AI-generated results aren’t getting noticed, and those that do appear may not like what they see. Platforms like ChatGPT compile content from Reddit, Glassdoor or Blind, inadvertently surfacing information that can be outdated or inaccurate, ultimately hurting an employer’s reputation. In response, a new class of tools has emerged to help talent acquisition teams evaluate and improve how their company is represented in AI outputs, and improve discoverability across these platforms.
AI Giants Are Launching Their Own Jobs Boards
This year, two major AI companies, Meta and OpenAI, announced that they were launching their own job boards. Together, these moves suggest that AI companies are no longer content to just influence the hiring process indirectly — they want to play an active role in it.
OpenAI’s platform is expected to launch in mid-2026, with a goal of connecting employers with AI-fluent applicants who have completed the company’s certification program. The platform would effectively position OpenAI as both a skills provider and a talent broker, likely rewarding workers who align closely with its specific ecosystem. Meta, meanwhile, brought back Facebook’s jobs platform after a two-year break, with a renewed focus on local hiring. The platform is said to be centered around entry-level, trade and service industry opportunities in particular, positioning itself as a potential bridge between employers and workers outside of traditional white-collar tech roles.
The Realities of Working With AI
AI is becoming a daily reality at work, but its impact on companies and professionals has been anything but predictable. Some employees are pushing back, questioning whether it actually improves productivity or creates new problems. Others are adopting it quickly — sometimes too quickly — producing work that may look great, but lacks substance. In short, AI adoption is a process, and most organizations are simply learning as they go.
Some Workers Are Resisting AI
While most companies have been excited by the potential productivity gains of AI, some employees remain skeptical about its benefits and reluctant to incorporate it in their work. These resistors raise valid concerns about AI’s limitations, the inefficiencies caused by its errors and the dangers of becoming too reliant on it — not to mention its environmental impact. Leaders would do well to listen to these concerns, as they might provide useful information about where AI is falling short so they can avoid pitfalls that could undermine both productivity and employee trust.
Employees Are Creating ‘Workslop’
Even when employees embrace AI, they don’t always use it responsibly. Some use AI tools to generate long-winded emails, half-baked reports and other work that confuses and annoys coworkers. This so-called “workslop” not only hinders the productivity of those on the receiving end, but it also undermines trust and collaboration among teammates.
AI adoption comes with growing pains, but managers can help minimize these issues by offering proper training, setting clear expectations around work quality and establishing guidelines for appropriate AI use. This isn’t just a human problem, either; AI agents that are hastily implemented without adequate coordination or oversight can also create their own brand of slop.
Professionals Are Training AI for Cash
If you can’t beat AI, you might as well train it, right? Data annotation or data labeling typically involves tedious, low-paying tasks, like transcribing audio or describing images. But many AI models have evolved beyond simply recognizing objects or classifying data, creating demand for knowledge workers who can evaluate responses, correct inaccuracies and apply their expertise to complex, domain-specific situations. On sites like Mercor and Surge AI, doctors, lawyers and other white-collar professionals can earn more than $100 per hour to review AI outputs, essentially teaching these models to perform tasks that once required their own skills. This, of course, begs the question: Are we training our own replacements?
Frequently Asked Questions
Did AI actually take away jobs in 2025?
Yes, but it’s complicated. AI is eliminating some roles, especially in areas like data entry and customer support, which are easy to automate. At the same time, it’s creating new, often lucrative opportunities elsewhere, particularly for experienced AI researchers and workers who can train or evaluate AI systems.
Does using ChatGPT help you get a job?
It can, but it’s a double-edged sword. Many applicants are using ChatGPT to write resumes, cover letters and tailor applications to specific roles, which can improve their chances of getting past applicant tracking systems. However, recruiters are being flooded with AI-generated applications, prompting them to put tighter filters and additional screening measures in place. Applicants’ attempts to game the system — like hiding prompts in resumes — often backfire, since recruiters still typically review applications manually and can easily spot these tactics.
