Young workers in the United States are losing jobs to artificial intelligence at an alarming rate, according to a new study from Stanford University. The research shows that workers aged 22 to 25 in jobs most exposed to AI have seen their employment drop by 13% since late 2022.

The biggest job losses are happening in software engineering and customer service. Young software developers have experienced a 20% drop in employment by July 2025 compared to late 2022. Customer service workers in the same age group faced similar massive job cuts.

Meanwhile, older workers in the same fields are actually doing better. Workers over 30 in AI-exposed jobs saw their employment grow by 6% to 9% during the same time period. This creates a strange situation where AI helps experienced workers but hurts newcomers.

The reason for this difference is simple. AI is really good at book learning - the kind of knowledge young people get in college. But AI struggles with real-world experience and tricks of the trade that older workers have learned on the job.

Some companies are making big changes. Ikea announced it will replace traditional call center workers with an AI chatbot called "Billie". The company is offering retraining to affected workers. But other companies are less generous - Indian startup Dukaan fired 90% of its customer support team and replaced them with a chatbot.

Even the U.S. government is using AI to cut jobs. A new Department of Government Efficiency led to 292,000 federal positions being eliminated in 2025. This shows that AI job replacement is happening in both private companies and government.