Short answer
The clearest growth is in jobs that build, run and feed AI systems, such as AI and machine learning specialists, data and database roles and software developers, and in roles where people still want human judgment, such as financial advising. The evidence comes mostly from employer surveys and official projections, which are informed estimates rather than measured outcomes, so treat the list as a direction, not a guarantee.
Follow-up question How do you move toward one?
Most talk about AI and work is about jobs disappearing. The official data tells a more mixed story. Some jobs are projected to shrink, some to grow because AI makes them more productive or creates new work around it, and many to change without changing size. Knowing which is which helps when you plan training or a career move.
Two kinds of source carry most of the evidence. Employment projections are official estimates of how many people will work in each occupation in ten years; in the United States they come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employer surveys ask companies what they expect to do. Both are forecasts. Neither can prove that AI caused a job to grow, and both can be wrong when technology moves quickly.
What the projections say
In February 2025, BLS published a set of case studies explaining how it builds AI's likely effects into its 2023–2033 projections. Its reasoning about software developers is a useful model for thinking about any job. AI can do many of a developer's tasks, BLS notes, yet cheaper software may increase demand for it, and AI systems themselves need people to build and maintain them. On balance it projects developer jobs to grow 17.9%, against 4.0% for all occupations.
| Occupation (US) | Projected change, 2023–2033 | BLS reasoning in brief |
|---|---|---|
| Software developers | +17.9% | AI raises productivity, but demand for software and AI systems keeps rising |
| Database architects | +10.8% | Companies adopting AI need better data infrastructure |
| Database administrators | +8.2% | Same infrastructure demand outweighs task automation |
| Lawyers | +5.2% | AI speeds document review; legal demand continues |
| Customer service representatives | −5.0% | Core tasks are easy for generative AI to replicate |
| Medical transcriptionists | −4.7% | Same |
BLS also expects personal financial advisors to keep growing strongly, because people still want a human for complex money decisions, and expects paralegals and insurance claims adjusters to see lower demand.
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, based on a survey of more than 1,000 employers covering over 14 million workers in 55 economies, points in a similar direction. Among the fastest-growing jobs in percentage terms to 2030, employers named AI and machine learning specialists, big data specialists, software and application developers, and fintech engineers. Green-energy roles also feature. The fastest-declining include data entry clerks, bank tellers, cashiers and administrative assistants. Two-thirds of employers said they plan to hire people with specific AI skills; 40% expect to reduce staff where AI can automate tasks.
Three patterns behind the growth
Reading the sources together, growth clusters in three places:
- Building and running AI. AI and machine learning specialists, software developers and the people who keep data clean, secure and connected.
- Feeding AI with data. Database and data-infrastructure roles grow because AI projects stall without organized data. BLS reports that researchers repeatedly named poor data infrastructure as the biggest obstacle to using AI.
- Trust and judgment. Roles where a client wants a person to take responsibility, such as financial advisors and lawyers, can grow even as AI handles parts of the work.
The limits of this evidence
Be careful with any confident headline, including this one. The BLS projections reflect what was known in mid-2024, and BLS itself says other interpretations are possible and that it will revise as AI develops. The WEF figures are employers' expectations, not hiring records.
What has actually happened so far is less dramatic than either hopes or fears. An August 2025 analysis by the Economic Innovation Group, a US policy research organization, compared unemployment for workers in the most and least AI-exposed jobs and found no clear sign of AI-driven job loss up to early 2025. It also found unemployment rising for young workers and recent graduates whether or not their fields were exposed to AI. The authors stress that their method cannot prove cause, and that effects could appear as more businesses adopt AI.
How do you move toward one?
Start from what you already do, not from a list. Most transitions that work move one step sideways into a growing role that uses your existing knowledge. Here is an illustrative plan for someone in data entry, a role employers expect to shrink, moving toward database administration, one BLS expects to grow:
| Phase | What to do | Proof you can show |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Map | List the tasks you do now and mark which touch data quality, spreadsheets or databases | A one-page skills inventory |
| 2. Learn the core | Learn SQL, the standard language for querying databases, through a free or community-college course | Ten queries you wrote against a sample database |
| 3. Use AI as a tool | Use an AI assistant to explain errors and draft queries, then check every result yourself | A short log of what the AI got wrong and how you caught it |
| 4. Build near your job | Offer to clean or document a dataset your team already uses | A before-and-after example, with permission to share |
| 5. Get credible | Take one recognized certificate for a database system your local employers use | The certificate, plus the project above |
Try it: Look up two occupations in the US Occupational Outlook Handbook (or your country's equivalent): the one you hold now and one growing role from the table above. Write down three tasks they share. That overlap is your starting point.
Two cautions. First, check your local market: national projections can differ a lot from openings in your region. Second, the skills employers say are rising include not only AI and data literacy but also creative thinking, resilience and curiosity, according to the WEF survey. Building both kinds makes a move easier and protects you if the forecasts shift.
Sources
- Incorporating AI impacts in BLS employment projections: occupational case studies — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, February 10, 2025
- The Future of Jobs Report 2025 (digest) — World Economic Forum, January 7, 2025
- AI and Jobs: The Final Word (Until the Next One) — Economic Innovation Group, August 10, 2025