A new nationwide survey reveals the growing unease among American professionals as AI reshapes the labor market.
The Access to Professional Services Report by Pearl.com, conducted with Censuswide across 2,000 US adults, found that 39% of white-collar workers would sacrifice up to a quarter of their salary if it guaranteed AI wouldn’t replace them.
Among blue-collar workers, 30% said they would do the same.
The sentiment aligns with broader anxiety over AI’s long-term impact. A third of blue-collar employees now believe more than half their daily tasks could be handled by AI within five years, while half of white-collar respondents said the same.
The survey also finds that nearly half of office workers feel unprepared to adapt to the technology, compared to just over a third of manual laborers.
“Interestingly, more White-Collar workers (48%) than Blue-Collar workers (35%) feel ill equipped to learn AI skills.”
Amid the fear of AI displacement, the survey notes that Americans are using AI to kickstart careers and new opportunities, with 25% of respondents saying they rely on the tech to launch or grow a side hustle/freelance income stream.
“The reality is workers need to be able to adapt to an AI world and use it as a competitive advantage. However, solopreneurs in particular ought to be wary of using AI unchecked. Using an AI companion to brainstorm ideas and figure out where to start is great. But when it comes to patenting your product and forecasting inventory, it’s critical to keep a human professional in the loop or risk losing money or getting in trouble with the law.”
You can read the full report here.
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