Unlock or Unravel? Discover How AI Might Supercharge Your Job—or Stall It Cold

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Discover how AI is shaping career growth across industries—and how to build a skill bridge for upward mobility, even in non-technical roles.

How AI Shapes Career Paths

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just changing the job market—it’s reshaping how careers progress. The research behind this article—by Mullens and Shen (2025)—took a few reads to fully grasp, but it offers some important and practical takeaways for jobseekers navigating an AI-influenced economy.

According to Mullens and Shen’s analysis of 545 occupations, your career prospects are strongly influenced by how AI is used in your field—not just whether AI is present. They identify six patterns of human-AI interaction, but most fall into two broad categories:

  • Automation-Focused AI: This type of AI replaces human work, limiting chances for advancement. For example, jobs that rely heavily on directive or feedback-loop AI—where the system guides or evaluates performance—are linked to downward mobility.
  • Augmentation-Focused AI: Here, AI supports or enhances human capabilities. Roles that use AI for task iteration or validation tend to show upward mobility, especially when paired with strong human skills.

What Are “Skill Bridges”?

The researchers introduce the idea of “skill bridges”—combinations of human skills and specific AI use patterns that help people move into higher-paying or more complex jobs. In plain terms, a skill bridge is your personal combination of what you know and how you work with AI tools. If the skills you have let you collaborate with AI—rather than be replaced by it—you’re more likely to move up.

Key findings:

  • Cognitive and analytical skills paired with augmentation-style AI (e.g., for refining or iterating tasks) are most effective in improving job outcomes.
  • Technical and engineering skills combined with directive AI can still support advancement, even though directive AI is often associated with downward movement.
  • Scientific and healthcare roles that use AI for validating work (e.g., diagnostics) see some of the highest mobility scores.

Occupation-Specific Takeaways

The study offers practical insights for different professions:

  • Healthcare Professionals: Use AI to validate decisions, such as in diagnostics. This pairing leads to greater upward mobility, especially when combined with strong cognitive skills.
  • Engineers: Surprisingly, engineers using directive AI saw career benefits—likely because they retain control over task complexity while offloading routine elements.
  • Administrative Workers: Roles focused on repetition and basic automation fared poorly, but jobseekers who upskilled in analytical tools saw better prospects when paired with augmentation AI.
  • Food Scientists: Workers in this field benefited from validation-style AI, which helped them move into higher job zones by improving accuracy and credibility.
  • Survey Researchers and Statisticians: These roles performed well when paired with AI for iterative and validation tasks—boosting mobility when human expertise guided and checked AI-generated insights.
  • Skilled Trades (e.g., Electricians, HVAC, Plumbing): While the authors do not provide detailed discussion of trades roles, the underlying data suggest that these occupations often interact with directive or feedback-loop AI. These patterns are generally associated with limited upward mobility. However, this article posits that when tradespeople combine strong technical skills with the ability to interpret and manage AI-driven systems—such as those used in smart buildings or automated diagnostics—they may improve career outcomes, especially in supervisory or high-tech specialty roles.
  • Education Professionals (e.g., Teachers, Curriculum Designers): While not explicitly covered in depth by the authors, this article extrapolates that educators who use AI as a feedback tool (e.g., auto-grading or learning analytics dashboards) may face reduced mobility due to the automation-focused nature of such tools. However, those who employ AI to design personalized curricula or enhance student engagement could benefit from augmentation-focused use, aligning with upward mobility patterns observed in Mullens and Shen (2025).
  • Creative and Media Roles (e.g., Writers, Designers, Editors): Though not a core focus of the article, creative workers are increasingly using AI tools such as generative text or image software. Based on the framework by Mullens and Shen (2025), this article posits that those who rely solely on AI for content creation may see stagnant growth. In contrast, those who use AI to support or refine original work (i.e., task iteration) may enhance their value and career trajectory.
  • Legal Support Staff (e.g., Paralegals, Legal Researchers): This article extrapolates that legal assistants who use AI primarily for document review or automation risk downward mobility. However, Mullens and Shen’s (2025) framework suggests that when paired with high-level legal reasoning, iterative and validation-focused AI can offer a skill bridge to more strategic roles in litigation support or compliance.
  • Customer Support Roles: While the study does not highlight these roles in detail, jobs involving scripted call center work or chatbot-based support align with automation-heavy AI usage, which the authors associate with reduced mobility. Upskilling into customer experience analytics or AI-human coordination roles could improve outcomes.
  • Sales Professionals: Mullens and Shen (2025) include several sales-related occupations in their data. This article interprets that salespeople relying on directive AI tools for prompts or lead prioritization may see limited mobility. Those who integrate AI insights into strategic client engagement, however, may find themselves transitioning into account management or sales operations leadership.

Steps You Can Take Now

To future-proof your career:

  • Assess your AI environment: Are tools replacing your tasks or helping you work smarter?
  • Strengthen your skill bridge: Build cognitive, technical, or domain-specific skills that complement how AI is used in your job.
  • Seek augmentation-rich roles: Look for work environments where AI enhances your capabilities rather than automates away your role.

Example in Action

Let’s say you’re a data clerk automating spreadsheet tasks. By learning data visualization or analysis software that works with AI (like Power BI or Tableau), you can transition into roles where you generate insights, not just process information—moving up rather than being phased out.

Where to Start If You’re Not in Tech

Even if you don’t work in a technical field, you can build your skill bridge. Try exploring free or low-cost tools that relate to your job:

  • Teachers: Use AI lesson planners or grading assistants to reduce routine work—and start learning how to tailor instruction using learning analytics.
  • Customer support agents: Practice using AI-enabled CRM platforms and start tracking patterns in customer behavior.
  • Writers and editors: Use AI to brainstorm, then refine with your own voice and judgment.
  • Retail or service workers: Take free courses in digital tools or scheduling software—especially ones using AI for inventory, upselling, or customer tracking.

Great starting points:

Try This: Quick AI Career Assessment

Use this simple checklist to evaluate where you stand:

Do you use AI at work?

  • □ I’m not sure if I use any AI.
  • □ I use tools that guide me, grade me, or give feedback.
  • □ I work with tools that help me create, iterate, or double-check my work.

Do you rely on these skills?

  • □ Cognitive or problem-solving skills
  • □ Technical or mechanical skills
  • □ Communication or customer-facing skills

Now ask: Does your current role let you work alongside AI, or is AI doing the core thinking? The more you pair your strongest skills with augmentation-style AI, the better your chances of upward mobility.

Final Takeaway

AI doesn’t determine your fate—it shapes your options. By understanding how AI is used in your field and building the right skills to complement it, you can position yourself for long-term career growth.

Reference:

Mullens, D., & Shen, S. (2025). 2ACT: AI-Accentuated Career Transitions via Skill Bridges. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07914

Image provided by ChatGPT

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