An expert says workers can use AI skills to get ahead and unlock new opportunities

More than two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus coined the phrase « change is the only constant. » This observation has remained true since his death, but now the change is happening even faster, largely thanks to generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) technology, such as e.g. ChatGPT or Claude. And this makes many employees more anxious than usual. But there is also good news for people who want to learn.

« Change is always stressful, » Liz Bentley, a workplace and career consultant at Liz Bentley Associates in New York, told FOX Business. Britain’s industrial revolution in the 18th century was also stressful. New industries made people unemployed, but new jobs were created. « At the beginning of the industrial revolution, people didn’t know that there would be new jobs, » he says. We now know that 18th century inventions, including steam trains and mechanical weaving, brought prosperity to the United Kingdom and then to other economies.

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Gen-AI takes change to a new level. « It’s coming fast and furious, » Bentley says. « There are so many things that AI can usurp. » This makes employees worry in a new way. People don’t know what changes are happening in the workplace. « There’s a lack of predictability, » he says. Gen-AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that creates content rather than just analyzing data.

A few years ago, job losses were often due to employee performance. Now it is often AI will displace work. Information from the Challenger, Gray and Christmas discoveries Gen-AI was directly involved in the layoff of 54,000 people in 2025. The idea was to let artificial intelligence handle repetitive tasks such as data collection. No wonder about 30% of workers fear losing their jobs when AI agents take over, according to Bentley.

Job loss may sound very scary to many people. But the reality is that Gen-AI is here to stay, and there are many reasons to stop worrying.

First, investors have put a lot of money into making AI work. US private and venture capital investments were $109 billion. Last year, similar investors plowed in another $194 billion. Simply put, these investors are betting heavily the future of artificial intelligence, and they wouldn’t do that unless they believed it had a stable future.

According to Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute, 28.3 percent of the working-age population in the United States used generative artificial intelligence, or about three out of ten workers in the second half of 2025. The U.S. was well ahead of the global average usage of 16.3 percent for the same period.

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While AI has led to layoffs so far, it has also created many new jobs that most of us would never have dreamed of. Last year, around 280,000 new human jobs were created in Gen-AI, according to Electro IQ Job Creation Stats. Some of these jobs were for people involved in AI training, data analysis, and Gen-AI ethics.

Another positive is that people working with AI agents are much more productive. The amount of human work assisted by Gen-AI has changed a lot, says Bentley. But most importantly, employees are now more productive. This is especially helpful for people without advanced degrees or experience, he says.

The key trick to benefiting from these new roles seems to be a willingness to learn. « These opportunities include people who embrace new technology, » Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital in St. Louis, Missouri, told FOX Business. « And AI can make you a lot more creative. »

Part of that creativity comes to life because people working on AI have to think. In particular, this means critical thinking, which involves questioning answers and challenging perceived wisdom. « It takes a person, » says Ellerbroek.

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Ellerbroek says the best way to start learning is to use the free Gen-AI agentssuch as the basic version of ChatGPT. With this basic knowledge, switching to the paid version will then be easier. « It’s dramatically better, » he says. « You need to check the printout. »