Is AI Really Taking Our Jobs? A New Study Has a Surprising Answer

Is the future of employment at risk because of the artificial intelligence revolution? A large-scale study by Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings presents a more complicated and surprising picture.

The study focused on key Asian markets, particularly India, a major hub for back-office services and call centers serving some of the world’s largest multinational corporations. Looking at the period between 2022 and August 2026, the analysis compared jobs eliminated following the introduction of chatbots and automation with new positions created as a direct result of the AI boom.

AI Is Eliminating Jobs, but Creating Even More

The findings reveal a striking contrast. In India alone, about 32,000 jobs were eliminated, primarily among customer service and support representatives as companies increasingly adopted automated systems and digital responses. Yet during the same period, more than 83,000 new technology-related jobs were created in the country.

A similar pattern emerged across Asia. Roughly 60,000 jobs were lost, primarily in the financial sector, while nearly 131,000 new AI-related positions were created. The overwhelming majority of those new jobs were in the technology sector.

The Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

But there is an important catch.

The report’s authors warn that while AI may be creating more jobs than it eliminates, those numbers do not tell the whole story. A customer service representative who loses a job to automation cannot simply become an algorithm engineer overnight. The skills required for many of the new positions are very different from those needed for the jobs disappearing.

That creates the risk of a growing divide between workers whose skills are increasingly in demand and those whose roles are most vulnerable to automation.

The bottom line? The AI revolution may not be erasing the world of work, but it is rapidly reshaping it. For both workers and employers, the challenge may be less about whether jobs will exist and more about whether people can acquire the skills needed for the jobs being created.