AASLE 2026 CONFERENCE

Artificial intelligence is transforming the debate about the future of work. Yet predictions about its consequences for employment, wages, and careers could hardly be more different.

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Some see AI as a fundamental threat to jobs, particularly for young people entering the labor market. If AI takes over tasks traditionally performed by junior workers, how will they acquire the experience and skills on which careers are built? Others see enormous opportunities: AI may complement rather than replace workers, raising productivity and enabling less-skilled or less-experienced employees to perform more complex tasks.

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Demographic change adds another important dimension. Across much of Asia and Europe, aging populations and shrinking workforces are creating labor shortages, while demand for healthcare and elderly care continues to rise. Could AI and automation help economies maintain productivity and growth with fewer workers?

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Labor economics offers powerful tools for understanding these developments. Research on tasks, skills, careers, worker–firm matching, and complementarities in production provides a framework for assessing how AI may reshape work. Yet the technology is evolving extraordinarily quickly, and evidence on its longer-term consequences remains limited.

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Bringing together three leading economists with different perspectives, this panel will explore what we currently know about AI and the labor market, who is likely to gain or lose, how AI may transform career opportunities, whether it can help address demographic challenges, and how firms, workers, and policymakers should respond.