Microsoft and Job Loss Categories: AI Replaces Humans for Sure
July 31, 2025
This blog post is the work of an authentic dinobaby. Sorry. No smart software can help this reptilian thinker.
I read “Working with AI: Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI.” This is quite a sporty academic-type write up. The people cranking out this 41 page Sociology 305 term paper work at Microsoft (for now).
The main point of the 41-page research summary is:
Lots of people will lose their jobs to AI.
Now this might be a surprise to many people, but I think the consensus among bean counters is that humans cost too much and require too much valuable senior manager time to manage correctly. Load up the AI, train the software, and create some workflows. Good enough and the cost savings are obvious even to those who failed their CPA examination.
The paper is chock full of jargon, explanations of the methodology which makes the project so darned important, and a wonky approach to presenting the findings.
Remember:
Lots of people will lose their jobs to AI.
The highlight of the paper in my opinion is the “list” of occupations likely to find that AI displaces humans at a healthy pace. The list is on page 12 of the report. I snapped an image of this chart “Top 40 Occupations with Highest AI Applicability Score.” The jargon means:
Lots of people will lose their jobs to AI.
Here’s the chart. (Yes, I know you cannot read it. Just navigate to the original document and read the list. I am not retyping 40 job categories. Also, I am not going to explain the MSFT “mean action score.” You can look at that capstone to academic wizardry yourself.)
What are the top 10 jobs likely to result in big time job losses? Microsoft says they are:
- People who translate from one language to another
- Historians which I think means “history teachers” and writers of non-fiction books about the past
- Passenger attendants (think robots who bring you a for-fee vanilla cookie and an over-priced Coke with “real cane sugar”)
- People who sell services (yikes, that’s every consulting firm in the world. MBAs, be afraid)
- Writers (this category appears a number of times in the list of 40, but the “mean action score” knows best)
- Customer support people (companies want customers to never call. AI is the way to achieve this goal)
- CNC tool programmers (really? Someone has to write the code for the nifty Chip Foose wheel once I think. After that, who needs the programmer?)
- Telephone operators (there are still telephone operators. Maybe the “mean action score” system means receptionists at the urology doctors’ office?)
- Ticket agents (No big surprise)
- Broadcast announcers (no more Don Wilsons or Ken Carpenters. Sad.)
The 30 are equally eclectic and repetitive. I think you get the idea. Service jobs and work that is repetitive — Dinosaurs waiting to die.
Microsoft knows how to brighten the day for recent college graduates, people under 35, and those who are unemployed.
Oh, well, there is the Copilot system to speed information access about job hunting and how to keep a positive attitude. Thanks, Microsoft.
Stephen E Arnold, July 31, 2025
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