Research from David Autor and co-authors, featured by Peter Dizikes in MIT News, shows that technology and public policy both drive the creation of new work. Since 1940, these new forms of work have benefited younger workers and those with a college degree.

Will AI continue this trend? It depends how AI is implemented – which groups of workers are affected, and whether their expertise is extended or commodified.

Autor explains, “What makes labor valuable is not simply the ability to do stuff, but specialized knowledge … It has to be scarce. If everyone is an expert, then no one is an expert.”