For decades, it was assumed that technology created more jobs than it destroyed. Each advance eliminated certain tasks, but also generated new professions. Today, that idea is beginning to falter. Artificial intelligence, automation, and autonomous systems are not only replacing specific jobs, they are also replacing entire human capabilities. We are no longer talking only about manual or repetitive work. Increasingly, administrative, creative, and technical activities can be carried out with fewer people or, in some cases, without people at all.

The question is no longer whether some workers will be displaced, but what will happen when entire sectors need only a fraction of their current workforce to produce the same output. New opportunities may emerge, as they have during previous technological revolutions. It is also possible that a significant share of jobs will simply disappear without an equivalent replacement. The difference is that this time the pace of change could exceed the ability of millions of people to adapt. That possibility deserves more attention than the optimistic promises that tend to accompany every new technology.