The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report has revealed that 41 per cent of employers are considering downsizing their workforce due to artificial intelligence (AI)—a concern that hits close to home after DBS CEO Piyush Gupta recently announced that the Singapore-headquartered bank may have to let go of 4,000 temp workers as AI takes over.
While these statistics may suggest looming job losses, Till Leopold, a lead author of the report and the Head of Work, Wages, and Job Creation at the World Economic Forum, told CNBC that it’s not a “jobs apocalypse” but rather that jobs will have an “evolved version”—more of an issue of upskilling.
The report found that 77 per cent of employers plan to upskill their employees to work alongside AI, while 47 per cent aim to move employees from declining roles to other positions within the company.
Mr Leopold said the issue isn’t job shortages but how “jobs may look much different.” He added that the AI takeover will primarily affect white-collar jobs, especially those involving data entry, such as clerical and paralegal work, as well as accounting and graphic design, as AI continues to advance. He noted that jobs like accounting and graphic design won’t disappear but will take on an “evolved version.”
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg Intelligence report suggests otherwise. According to the report, up to 200,000 jobs in the banking sector could be at risk due to AI within the next five years. It found that nearly a quarter of respondents pointed to a decline of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of their workforce.
Despite the potentially dire outlook for sectors like banking, Business Intelligence analyst Tomasz Noetzel noted that any jobs involving routine are at risk. However, he added that “AI will not eliminate them fully; rather, it will lead to workplace transformation.”
Mr Leopold added that human skills, such as creativity, collaboration, resilience, and agility, will become “newly important” in the future. /TISG
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