Disrupted or displaced? How AI is shaking up jobs
New technology is starting to have a profound effect on work and employment
Ocado’s use of AI and robotics has allowed it to reduce its workforce, while other businesses and experts remain split over whether such technology will benefit workers or cause job losses
Anjli Raval
Published Jun 8 2025
During Ocado’s most recent earnings call, chief executive Tim Steiner said the group’s advances in artificial intelligence and robotics had allowed it to fulfil online grocery shops at an ever faster pace.
In 2012, it took 25 minutes of human labour to pick a 50-item order. That is now down to 10. But Ocado’s technological progress means the company requires 500 fewer workers this year, after it already announced 2,300 jobs would be at risk in 2023.
The UK company’s move over many years to phase down human labour where feasible exemplifies workers’ fears about generative AI: it may boost productivity, efficiency and profitability but it can also displace staff.
Some businesses are yet to embrace the shift but many have spent more than a year experimenting and engaging in workplace pilots.
“Companies are moving from asking, ‘What is our AI strategy?’ to experimenting?.?.?.?implementing generative AI into processes,” said Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn. “It is starting to change the landscape of work.”
Now employees, bosses and policymakers are trying to decipher what exactly the benefits of generative AI look like.
“This latest generation of AI could change every job. I don’t think that is too much of an exaggeration,” said Peter Cheese, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the UK’s professional body for HR and people development. “Of course you can see examples where AI in different forms is already making a difference to their workforce, but it’s still early days for many companies.”
Many employers are cutting jobs under the guise of economic and political uncertainty. But high profile examples of AI-driven lay-offs in recent months, from technology company IBM to language learning app Duolingo, are fuelling questions about whether a slash and burn of white-collar roles is under way.
The 42-year-old billionaire Dario Amodei, who runs AI developer Anthropic, has warned the technology he and peers such as OpenAI are building could wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs in the next five years. Already, graduates account for just 7 per cent of hires across the 15 biggest technology companies, with the number of new recruits down a quarter compared with 2023, according to SignalFire, a venture capital firm.
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