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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- A survey by McKinsey examines the impact of AI on the workforce.
- The adoption of AI is causing both workforce increases and decreases.
- Data scientists and data engineers are in high demand due to the rise of AI.
The excitement and obsession around generative AI is impacting organizations in several ways, not the least of which is in the workforce. As with any new technology, AI has caused many professionals to fear that they may be replaced by a bot. At the same time, the need to succeed with AI is leading companies to hire more engineers and other professionals who can work with the technology.
“The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation,” a new report from management consulting firm McKinsey, examines how organizations have adopted and plan to adopt AI, and how this is impacting their hiring and firing practices. Based on an online survey conducted in June and July 2025, the report includes feedback from 1,993 individuals across 105 countries, representing a range of company sizes and industries.
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The majority of people polled reported little to no change in their headcount over the past year due to AI. Looking at most job functions, fewer than 20% of respondents reported workforce declines of 3% or more. A smaller percentage reported that their use of AI prompted them to add more employees.
Job impacts are likely to increase in the year ahead
However, that scenario is likely to change in the coming year as AI use gains more traction.
Looking ahead, 32% of those polled expect decreases in their headcount due to AI, 43% anticipate no change, and 13% are eyeing an increase in employment across certain functions. Large enterprises are more likely than smaller companies to expect an AI-related reduction in workforce size. Businesses with a significant investment in AI anticipate major changes, but these may result in either job reductions or increases, depending on the specific functions.
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Among organizations that regularly use AI, specific roles have seen, and may continue to see, downturns as a result of increased AI use. These include such areas as customer care, human resources, and sales and marketing. On the brighter side, several types of jobs have seen and are expected to continue seeing an increase in hiring opportunities thanks to AI. These include AI data scientists, data engineers, machine learning engineers, software engineers, AI product owners and managers, and data architects.
However, since the report encompasses feedback from a wide variety of organizations, the overall results aren’t consistent. Whether a company plans to increase, decrease, or keep the same number of employees depends on its size, industry, region, and, most naturally, how it uses AI.
Some jobs become more critical
“As many companies are still in pilot and early production phases of AI use, it is not yet clear what impact AI will have on the number of jobs and nature of work,” Lareina Yee, senior partner and McKinsey Global Institute director, said in the report. “Still, even in these early days of adoption, we are seeing changes in the skills demanded for a range of jobs. Across positions like claims adjusters, digital marketers, and wealth managers, we are seeing increasing demand for AI skills; typically, this is about incorporating AI into existing roles or workflows.”
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About a third of the respondents said they expect their workforce to decline, Yee noted. A smaller percentage are eyeing an increase in headcount and have already seen gains over the past year across a diverse range of job functions, including IT, supply chain, and sales.
“Some of these jobs will become more critical as AI adoption increases,” Yee added. “AI success, for example, requires data readiness and MLOps (machine learning operations). We see larger companies in particular hiring for those skills; they are twice as likely to hire roles that integrate, model, and industrialize data.”
