A Quarter of Workers Say AI Has Already Taken Part of Their Job—Which Tasks Went First
- 65.8% of surveyed workers feel anxious about AI taking their jobs
- 25.0% say parts of their work have already been taken over
- Document drafting, data compilation and translation went first
- AI fluency, not task defense, is becoming the career divider
AI job displacement is no longer future tense: a survey covered by ITmedia finds 65.8% of workers anxious about AI taking their jobs—and 25.0% saying it has already started happening to them.
The tasks being absorbed share a profile: document drafting, data compilation, translation, scripted customer responses—formatted, repetitive, low-discretion work, exactly generative AI's sweet spot. Notably this is erosion, not layoffs: positions remain while task content is carved away piece by piece, and where the freed hours get redeployed determines who wins.
The career playbook has one main line: move from executing routine tasks to amplifying output with AI. Japan's labor shortage offers a cushion—arguably AI is filling missing headcount rather than displacing it. For managers, the move is auditing your operations' AI-replaceable share and redesigning workflows before employee anxiety does it for you.