The debate over AI jobs is getting messier

Fears of AI-related job losses grow every time another company takes over Announces a round of layoffs. As of May 2026, companies announced that approx 90,000 job cuts It was related to artificial intelligence, and by some accounts as much as 15% of jobs in the United States are related to artificial intelligence Expected He is Eliminated by artificial intelligence Over the next five years. Promises from the tech industry that AI will create new jobs do little to ease concerns, especially for a generation that wonders whether anyone will hire them after they graduate.

A recent report from Ramp and Revelio Labs, which tracks enterprise AI spending and workforce records from nearly 22,000 companies, respectively, further complicates this bleak narrative.

The report found that companies that spend heavily on AI are increasing their headcount faster, even in entry-level roles that many fear are doomed to fail. According to the report, “high-intensity AI adopters” — companies that spent an average of $30 per employee per month on AI in the first three months — saw headcount increase by 10.2%.

Headcount also rose across functions, including engineeringSales, management, customer service, finance, marketing, and scientist roles. The strongest job growth was among high-intensity users in the information sector, which includes software, Internet, media, and technology-adjacent businesses.

Despite these positive signs, the data is not as rosy as it seems. It’s skewed heavily toward high-tech companies and knowledge work — those companies that may have venture capital backing and are growing quickly anyway, making it difficult to determine whether AI is contributing to hiring or only showing up in companies that are expanding anyway.

“This study does not show that AI creates jobs globally, but it contradicts claims that AI will lead to widespread job losses,” the research authors acknowledge.

It also contradicts claims that AI is killing all entry-level jobs. Recent research A study from Goldman Sachs found that AI has already erased about 16,000 net jobs per month over the past year, with Generation Z and entry-level workers bearing the brunt. But at advanced technology companies, the report found that the number of entry-level employees actually rose by 12%.

So what can we conclude from this? AI may not always be a tool for replacing labor, but it can be a tool for expanding companies instead.

“For software and technology companies, AI can make core production cheaper or faster to produce: writing code, debugging, building internal tools, producing technical documentation, and supporting product development,” the report said. “Reduced production costs in these workflows can lead to increased return on scaling for the entire company, not just the engineering team.”

But companies that bought subscriptions and ran pilots, but didn’t continue to make sustainable investments, tended to see no gains in headcount, according to the report.

This creates the possibility of a Widening gap Between companies that have the resources — such as capital, technical staff, founder networks, and management bandwidth — to turn AI adoption into real business wins and those stuck in the subscription experience. In other words, this report suggests that companies that already have the resources will see the biggest gains.

The study’s authors speculate that such a divide may continue to grow, saying: “Companies that do not have these channels may be left behind.”