Artificial Intelligence (AI) has eliminated 77,999 jobs in 2025 across 342 tech companies. Turns out, your College Degree(s) just became toilet paper.
37% of companies using AI say the technology replaced workers in 2023 because "they were no longer needed."
In 2024, 44% using or planning to use AI said employees will "definitely" or "probably" be laid off.
But here's what makes this different from every other tech revolution: major tech firms reduced new graduate hiring by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023.
These aren't positions getting automated - these are jobs that no longer exist.
The con everyone's selling: "AI will create new jobs!"
Sure. While 85 million jobs are projected to be displaced by 2025, 97 million new roles may emerge. Sounds great until you read the fine print:
77% of new AI-related jobs require master's degrees, and 18% require doctoral degrees. Your four-year degree? Worthless. The new entry point is a PhD most people can't afford.
What's actually happening: A major tech CEO revealed that 30% of company code is now AI-written. At the same time, over 40% of recent layoffs targeted software engineers.
Companies are dissolving copywriting divisions and replacing substantial portions of their coding staff. More than 80% of digital marketers already fear AI will replace content writers - and they're right.
Occupations at highest risk: computer programmers, accountants, auditors, legal and administrative assistants, customer service reps, telemarketers, proofreaders, credit analysts.
Notice a pattern? White-collar, college-educated, once-stable careers - the exact jobs your parents told you were "safe" - are the precise jobs being ELIMINATED.
For men, the sudden reality is they should immediately leave college and go to Trade School. Learn a Trade: Car Mechanic, Diesel Truck Mechanic, Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter, Sheet Metal Worker, Iron Worker, Heavy Equipment Operator (Cranes, bulldozers, earth movers), etc.
For women, it looks frighteningly hopeless. The demographic timebomb: 79% of employed women in the U.S. work in jobs at high risk of automation, compared to 58% of men.
Globally, 4.7% of women's jobs face severe disruption from AI versus 2.4% for men.
In high-income countries? Nearly 10% of women's jobs are at highest risk compared to just over 3% for men. This isn't just job loss - it's systematic wealth destruction along gender lines.
The prediction nobody wants to make: Leading AI executives warn that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within 5 years.
Other global tech leaders back this projection, forecasting potential impact to half the global workforce by 2027.
We're not talking about a gradual transition. We're talking about 14% of workers already displaced by automation or AI, with estimates that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs worldwide.
January 2025 saw the lowest job openings in professional services since 2013 - a 20% year-over-year drop. 40% of white-collar job seekers in 2024 failed to secure even an interview.
You're seeing the early days of something unprecedented: an entire generation locked out of the careers they trained for, watching AI do their jobs better, faster, and for pennies on the dollar.
The social contract was "get educated, work hard, build a career." AI just voided that contract.
And nobody - not universities, not politicians, not companies - has a plan for what comes next.
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