How AI Has Changed What It Means To Be Middle Class

Since the rise of AI, nearly 600,000 tech jobs have been lost, and even government agencies like the IRS have cut staff. Automation has spread across finance, healthcare, and public sectors, displacing mainly middle-class workers—whose consumption drives 68.3% of U.S. GDP.

AI has devalued traditional skills, fueled mass layoffs, and deepened corporate concentration. Millions now work as freelancers without benefits, while wages stagnate and student debt soars.

The economic promise of education has faltered, and the profits of AI are not shared equitably. As demand weakens, an AI-driven economy risks collapsing the very middle class it helped destabilize.

CHAPTERS:
0:12 Job Losses
0:47 Tech Layoffs
1:23 Middle-Class Workers
2:05 Freelance Work
2:59 Employment Model
3:41 Digital Skills
4:18 Labor Market
5:06 Workforce Displacement
6:12 Automated Hiring
7:04 Underemployment

Produced by: Samantha Harvey
Edited by: Jacob Smith
Animation: Charlotte Brown
Additional Footage: Getty Images

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