The increasingly routine use of artificial intelligence in the workplace is virtually undeniable, though experts say there’s no need to panic about it overtaking jobs — at least not yet.
Google’s new AI & Economy ATLAS report, released July 23, finds that AI is mostly playing an assistive role — helping with ideas, strategy and similar tasks — while fully automating work remains rare.
“I think it’s OK to feel overwhelmed, but there’s no need to feel panicked,” said Kass Moore, director of Career Services and Workforce Development at UNLV. “It’s all going to work out, and this has happened throughout history in terms of the job market … This has happened before, just not with AI.”
While there’s been widespread fear that AI will eliminate jobs, Moore said that fear hasn’t played out for many roles, particularly ones geared toward college graduates.
“A lot of the time, our students will say, ‘Oh, there’s no jobs out there,’” Moore said. “The job market is tough right now, absolutely. There’s just some economic impacts that are, of course, making that the case. But it’s not because of AI. We just need to grow with the times.”
The study, based on 15 million interactions with Google’s AI products including the Gemini app and AI Mode, found that while AI has been adopted across all industry sectors and 68% of all occupations, it is being used selectively and for only approximately 21% of tasks.
The mention of familiarity with AI in job descriptions has increased exponentially over the last couple of years, Moore said.
“Nobody has to be an expert, but employers are really looking for these employees to be able to know how to use it, to be able to use it to their benefit, but then mostly to not overuse it,” Moore said. “To be able to use it strategically, where it doesn’t seem like they are a robot, but they’re really using it as a resource and a tool.”
Andy Boettcher, chief innovation officer at DoubleTrack, a data and AI consultancy headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, said the message that AI is coming for people’s jobs is “not a nontruth.”
“But what I tell people is: AI is not coming for your job; people that know how to use AI to do the job better — those are the people that are coming for jobs,” Boettcher said. “And it is not a very difficult thing for a person who has never used AI before to be able to get into this.”
A report released this summer by DoubleTrack found that Nevada has one of the widest AI talent gaps in the country. It said nearly 26% of Nevada businesses use AI and that the state has only 7.1 AI specialists per 1,000 jobs.
“There is a lack or a gap of people who are tooled to do this in that area,” Boettcher said. “And businesses would love to use the local market. They don’t have to go to the coasts and to the big consultancies to do this.”
DoubleTrack’s talent-gap analysis also found that many businesses adopting AI are not actually making any changes to do so. Some have asked existing staff to take it on, per the report, while a smaller fraction have hired people formally trained in AI or consultants.
There is a “once-in-a-generation” chance for people to get plugged into this technology, Boettcher said. They don’t necessarily need the multiyear degree they would have needed previously, he said.
“This is an opportunity for people to skill up like they’ve never been able to skill up before,” Boettcher said. “There is a tremendous talent gap for individuals that want to skill up; that look at these tools and start to change the way they’re thinking. This is a generational opportunity … Go forth, be excited, grab it and claim one of those spots in the gap.”
He encouraged people to start talking to AI platforms like “a friend at the water cooler,” and let it change the way they think about problem-solving. Find what works for you, he said, and don’t treat it like a tool but like a co-worker.
“Have a conversation with it,” Boettcher said. “Ask it to challenge your thinking. That is how you get tooled in AI, and you then bring that into your workplace and say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about doing this differently. Here is how I want to do it,’ and then do it.”
The message of DoubleTrack’s findings — which posits that the biggest barriers to AI aren’t cost or talent, but understanding and trust — is ultimately a positive one, Boettcher said.
“It’s incredible,” Boettcher said. “It’s like a snowball going down a hill once you start … They literally will change the way you think and change the way you work, and your output will be elevated beyond what anybody thinks. Those are the individuals that are coming for jobs, not AI by itself. AI by itself is actually pretty stupid. It’s the human creative mind that really is the multiplier.”
UNLV is working to ensure that faculty and its departments are integrating AI training and resources into courses and operations so that students are ahead of the curve, said Moore, whose office offers a resource on using AI collaboratively in job searches.
That doesn’t mean letting AI write your cover letter, Moore made clear, but using it to get tips and tricks on a cover letter based on a job’s description.
Another example, Moore said, is using AI to explore job opportunities — letting it work alongside you instead of overtaking you.
“That’s kind of the stance that we’re taking and the idea that we’re seeing, is that AI isn’t taking jobs,” Moore said. “It’s just now folks need to grow with it and learn how to use it. And more positions are also asking for you to be AI savvy, to know how to use AI in your job, and so that’s going to be incredibly important, is that you at least know how to use it.”
Steve Miller, professor of economics and director of research at UNLV’s Lee Business School Center for Business and Economic Research, said the fear of new technology making one’s job obsolete is nothing new.
“That sort of thought has existed for a long time, and it’s in cycles,” Miller said. “And every time we have an important technological change … it usually takes a bit of time for the benefits of that technological change to manifest themselves in terms of productivity and output.”
He pointed to the computerization era as an example, noting how it took years for the productivity benefits to take effect, during which time economists continued to question them.
“The same thing is happening with AI,” Miller said. “Now it may be that the process of getting it into the economy and affecting productivity and output will be a little faster, but maybe not. Because the real issue there is how people use it in the workplace.”
Southern Nevada’s biggest industries, like hospitality and entertainment, are “not exempt” from the onslaught either, Miller said.
“They are and will be using more and more (AI) in their functioning now,” Miller said. “I’m thinking, can we use AI to change bed sheets and get the linen out of the rooms? I’m not sure — maybe … but it would be a strange new world.”
Productivity is typically measured as output over labor, Miller said.
“The debate on AI has to do with: will labor decrease or increase as productivity rises?” Miller said. “The only way labor can increase as productivity rises is if the money that you save by the increased productivity gets reinvested in the economy. When you reinvest it, then you’ll create a demand for more people.”
