The artificial intelligence (AI) It is advancing with a speed that no longer allows us to think that this phenomenon is temporary, but rather represents an active transformation of the labor market.
Proponents and skeptics alike agree that automation is reshaping the employment structure in the United States, where public and private investment in technology has skyrocketed.
In fact, a recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) revealed that AI could replace 12% of the country’s workers in 2026an equivalent of $1.2 billion in salaries.
The researchers point out that the real impact will depend on factors such as business decisions, public policies and the adaptation capacity of workers.
List of jobs that AI could replace in 2026
1. Technological and IT roles
The MIT study indicates that jobs within computing are the most exposed because current AI adoption is concentrated in those sectors.
Professions like Software engineers, data scientists, analysts, program managers and developers are especially vulnerable. Paradoxically, those who build these tools are also the ones who will see the most automation in coding, debugging, and analysis tasks.
2. Cognitive and administrative work
Administrative and analytical tasks, present in financial, accounting and business services sectors, are among those that could disappear the fastest.
This includes features like administrative coordination, information processing, financial analysis and data review. AI already performs some of these tasks at a speed and cost that is difficult to match.
3. Professional services and healthcare
Although it may seem distant, the study warns that professional areas linked to health management or service administration also show high levels of exposure.
AI can assume organization, recording, classification and processing tasks that previously required hours of human labor.
4. Cultural, sales and customer service occupations
Another analysis, published by Microsoft Last July, it expanded the list of professions at risk by observing thousands of real conversations with its Copilot tool. By that measure, jobs with the greatest applicability of AI include:
- Interpreters and translators
- Historians
- Passenger attendants
- Service sales representatives
- Writers and authors
- Customer service representatives
- CNC tool programmers
- Telephone operators
- Travel Clerks and Ticket Agents
- Radio hosts and DJs
These roles present repetitive or highly digitizable tasks that current models can execute quickly and accurately.