The generative AI market has exploded from $191 million in 2022 to $25.6 billion in 2024—a 134-fold increase in just two years. Projections suggest this market will reach $1.81 trillion by 2030. In the fourth quarter of 2024, half of all venture capital dollars flowed into AI-focused companies, nearly doubling their share from the previous year.
These numbers represent a massive shift in how work is performed, who benefits, and who bears the cost of this rapid technological advancement. As AI transforms industries, from healthcare to entertainment, a meaningful divide is emerging between those excited by and profiting from these changes and those threatened by them.
Many tech executives and business leaders have expressed unbridled enthusiasm about AI’s potential. A 2025 WSJ Intelligence survey found that 89% of global CEOs rank AI as the most critical technology for ensuring future profitability and competitiveness. These leaders are experiencing firsthand how generative AI is revolutionizing ideation, research, strategy, and business execution, and they’re right to be excited.
Meanwhile, creative professionals and entry-level knowledge workers face a dramatically different reality. Over 150,000 tech jobs were eliminated in 2024, with companies often citing AI efficiencies. Already in 2025, more than 24,000 positions have been cut, according to tracking site layoffs.fyi. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report found that 41% of organizations surveyed expect to reduce staff due to skills obsolescence over the next five years.
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, explains this dynamic: “In advanced economies, about 60 percent of jobs may be impacted by AI. Roughly half the exposed jobs may benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. For the other half, AI applications may execute key tasks currently performed by humans, which could lower labor demand, leading to lower wages and reduced hiring. In the most extreme cases, some of these jobs may disappear.”
For creative professionals, the threat extends beyond job security to questions of artistic identity and intellectual property. Many authors have discovered their books in databases like Atlantic’s LibGen, which lists works pirated by Meta to train its LLM. Visual artists have seen their distinctive styles replicated by AI systems trained on their work without permission or attribution.
Jingna Zhang, a photographer and founder of Cara, a social discovery platform for non-AI artists, articulated this violation in a blog post: “For many of us who do art, these are not just a simple picture on the internet—our work is our identity, a life we have dedicated to our craft and our dreams—and it feels like it’s now being fed through a grinder, without any regard for what we feel, and what will happen to us.”
These vastly differing experiences and perspectives signify a class divide that is widening with every AI advancement. The tech and business elite stand to gain even more money and power, and – in a world where socioeconomic disparities are already pushing 11.1% of Americans over the poverty line, with almost half of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck – the working class stands to lose even more.
Both perspectives contain truth. AI has enormous potential to drive positive change—from developing niche medical treatments to optimizing environmental resource allocation. At the same time, it risks widening inequalities, propagating biases, and depleting natural resources.
As with most complex issues where opposing realities coexist, there are steps that each group can take to work toward more equitable outcomes.
What those in power who benefit from AI should consider
Upskill your workforce. For example, Dan Shapiro, CEO of Glowforge, has made AI proficiency a company-wide mandate. Every employee has access to the latest AI tools—many customized for specific roles—and receives training to use them effectively. The result is a workforce of AI experts who have made all areas of the business more efficient.
Reskill your workforce. Armoire clothing rental CEO Ambika Singh exemplifies this approach. When automation replaced employees who logged returned items, Singh redeployed that human capital to a new initiative upcycling damaged clothing. This strategic leadership provided employees with job security and career progression while creating a new revenue stream for the business.
Hire diverse people with a strong understanding of AI ethics. There are countless examples of biases in AI due to a lack of representation among developers. Recently, a study found that medical detection AI models were less likely to identify disease in women and Black patients. With women comprising only 29% of the AI workforce and Black employees making up just 8% of potential AI jobs, such biases will continue without intentional diversity efforts.
What those who could be marginalized by AI should consider
Understand the AI landscape. It’s beneficial for everyone to know some basics about AI, even if it doesn’t directly impact their current work. It’s helpful to understand what generative AI is good at (e.g. ideation, content creation), what it struggles with (e.g. distinguishing fact from fiction, analyzing complex data), and how it can be misused (e.g. deepfakes, elaborate phishing attacks). For some digestible reading, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick offers valuable resources on his blog, including guides like “15 Times to Use AI, and 5 Not To.“
Learn how to use AI. The now-common adage that “AI won’t take your job, but someone who’s great at AI might” contains a kernel of truth. While that might not be entirely true (see previous job loss data), it’s definitely riskier not to be the AI expert in the candidate pool. Unfortunately, disparities are already emerging in who is learning AI.
Harvard Business School Associate Professor Rembrand Koning has observed uneven AI adoption, with women adopting AI tools at a 25% lower rate than men. A Common Sense Media report revealed that Black students are twice as likely to have their work incorrectly flagged as AI-generated compared to white students—potentially discouraging adoption among these students. These data points have worrisome implications both for the gender and racial pay gaps, as AI-fluent employees stand to earn more.
Diversify your income. With job market volatility increasing, the portfolio career model can offer greater security. A 2024 Bankrate survey found that over one-third of U.S. adults earn money beyond their primary income. This approach distributes risk across multiple revenue sources, providing a buffer against industry-specific disruptions.
The most important step for everyone is finding their voice in the AI conversation. This could mean creating art that deliberately showcases human creativity, advocating for fair compensation and attribution for AI training data, or having critical conversations about generative AI’s impact on work and life.
In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, this is the time to be intentional about how we distribute the benefits that will come from generative AI, and how we will mitigate its harms. AI is transforming our world, and we all need to have a say in how that transformation unfolds.
