The most misleading question about artificial intelligence and work is which jobs will disappear. A better question is which tasks will move, which tasks will be redesigned, and who will control the transition.
Economic production is made of task bundles. Automation can displace labor from tasks it takes over, while new tasks can create demand elsewhere. Job titles may survive while the work inside them changes; the distribution of training, monitoring, and bargaining power determines who benefits.
A study of 5,179 customer-support agents reported a 14% average increase in issues resolved per hour with a generative-AI assistant, including a 34% improvement for novice and lower-skilled agents. The specific workplace finding does not prove that AI raises productivity in every occupation.
The policy lesson is transition design: track tasks, measure outcomes, disclose uncertainty, teach verification, and give workers a real path to learn and move. The phrase last human workforce names a struggle over the social arrangement around work, not a prophecy that humans become irrelevant.
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