AI is Replacing Real Jobs Right Now — Here's What 1,734 People Say In The HUGE Reddit Thread
I analyzed 1,734 real stories from people who lost their jobs to AI. The pattern is brutal: junior positions are gone, and the "start at the bottom" career ladder has broken completely.
Thereality nobody talks about
Everyone says AI will take jobs. But nobody’s listening to the people it’s already happening to.
I analyzed 1,734 real comments from people who lost their jobs to AI. Not theories. Not predictions. Real stories from data scientists, voice actors, designers, lawyers, and customer support teams.
The pattern is clear: Junior positions are disappearing. Entry-level roles are gone. The traditional career ladder — starting at the bottom, learning on the job, and climbing up — is breaking.
If you’re graduating now or starting your career, this matters. Companies aren’t hiring juniors to train. They’re using AI and expecting senior people to supervise it.
The question isn’t whether AI will impact your field. The question is: Are you building the skills to work WITH AI systems, or are you preparing for jobs that won’t exist?
This isn’t a doom post. It’s a reality check. And at the end, I’ll show you a different approach — one that puts you in control of your knowledge and AI tools, not the other way around.
10 Industries, 33 Real Cases
I categorized 1,734 comments into 10 major industries. Here are the top 5 most upvoted cases from each — real people, real stories, with links to read full context.
1. Data Analysis & Science
Total cases found: 2
#1: Data Scientist (13 years experience) — Replaced by Boss’s Copilot
Score: 11,450 upvotes
I used to be a data scientist (with 13 yoe). My boss wanted me to solve a problem that involved clustering sensor data by location. Because errors in latitude and longitude tend to be random, we’ll have elliptical clouds of points, so I said we should use k-means. My boss picked up his laptop, turned it around, and said, “But Copilot says that we should use DBSCAN”. I researched DBSCAN and found that it would be very slow and do the wrong thing in a worse way. My boss did not agree. I was laid off a few weeks later, along with the rest of the data team. My boss was laid off two months after that. Now the company has an open position for an “AI Scientist” in India.
— u/Utkonos91
#2: Epidemiologist (Masters/PhD team) — Replaced by IT + AI
Score: 565 upvotes
I’m an epidemiologist working for a local health department in a team building disease surveillance capacity. Basically, my team makes data cleaning and visualizations automated so we can spend time interpreting the output and detect outbreaks and patterns earlier. We all have masters or PhDs in epidemiology/biostatistics. We are being pushed out in the middle of respiratory season at the end of the year, so the IT team can make oversimplified graphs that are not useful and use AI for the rest.
It’s absolutely horrifying that our community’s health is in the hands of untrained IT and AI.
— u/berkosaurus
2. Design & Creative
Total cases found: 5
#1: Graphic Designer — Job description rewritten overnight
Score: 6,127 upvotes
Graphic designer here. I haven’t been fully replaced yet, but the landscape has completely changed. Clients now expect me to use AI as a ‘co-pilot’ — generating initial concepts, mood boards, and even rough copy in minutes, not hours. The job is becoming less about executing the first idea and more about curating, refining, and adding the crucial human touch (and catching AI’s weird mistakes).
It feels less like I lost my job and more like my job description was rewritten overnight. The pressure to constantly adapt is the real challenge.
— u/silver86racher
#2: Creative professional — Can’t compete without AI credits
Score: 716 upvotes
I didn’t yet lose my job to ai but I feel I am falling behind as most people are actively using ai in their creative careers which I don’t because you need to buy credits to do anything, I don’t wanna be chained, but yeah it’s hard to match the level or work of people that use ai
— u/Best-Code-6923
#3: Visual Artist — Commissions dried up
Score: 245 upvotes
I was a full time visual artist. The commissions dried up when people started using ChatGPT to make all their images, flyers, posters, etc.
— u/Swimming_Abalone_518
#4: Copywriter — Industry dying out, no idea what’s next
Score: 55 upvotes
I’m in the process of my industry dying out. Former journalist, current copywriter. AI has been chipping away at my work for the last 1.5 years. It’s terrible, I honeslty have no idea what to do next, where to find time to retrain, no idea what to do. I recently had a gig to write something creative from scratch and it was such a delight to do - I’m going to miss writing, I truly do love it.
— u/stuckwitharmor
3. Writing & Content Creation
Total cases found: 11
#1: Literary Editor (15 years, sci-fi press) — Replaced by robot
Score: 5,000 upvotes
I was a literary editor for one of the largest sci-fi presses in the world. My boss, the executive editor, retired and the company reassessed their practices. So after spending fifteen years working for the greater good of sci-fi, I got outsourced to a goddamn robot.
To be fair, I guess I probably should have seen that coming, given the genre. Just never thought it’d surpass human reading/analysis THAT fast.
— u/Apocalypse_Wow
#2: Newspaper Editor — Automated for $1,000/year
Score: 2,021 upvotes
I worked for a newspaper as an editor. I was basically a glorified spell checker. They automated my job for less than $1,000 a year.
Now, I bartend and drive school busses to make ends meet.
— u/thinkdeep
#3: QA Worker (500 people laid off) — Replaced by AI without warning
Score: 608 upvotes
My brother lost his job to AI this month. He worked in QA and his company decided to sack 500 non-client facing jobs to replace them with AI without any warning. I honestly hope that the AI blows up in their face.
— u/True_Dovakin
#4: Government Paperwork Specialist (10 years) — Field destroyed
Score: 580 upvotes
I wasn’t replaced by AI in a 1:1 capacity, but it did destroy my field in general. It’s a weird case.
I had 10 years of experience doing an extremely niche type of Government paperwork. Without going into detail, this was the sort of paperwork that businesses (especially small businesses) absolutely HAD to do, for a few logistical reasons. Extremely tedious, extremely long (250-500 pages about 20 times a year). I mostly worked for Small Businesses, who themselves would work for various Government contracts.
— u/cslevens
4. Voice Acting & Audio
Total cases found: 3
#1: Voice Actor — Lost smaller jobs, new contracts want voice rights
Score: 4,621 upvotes
Voice actor here. While I still get the bigger commercials and jobs, I’ve lost a lot of the smaller jobs. For example, storyboarding. Ad agencies will create a digital storyboard detailing what the ad will look like, they hire a voice artist to do a preliminary voice over (you’d earn like 150-200 for the hour), it’s all AI now.
I’ve worked on campaigns where all of the voice artists refused to sign their contact because there’s a new clause in it - if they sign it, they’re signing the rights of their voice over to AI, so this client can use their voice without them ever having to record anything else again. They all refused, the client just recast all of them.
— u/angry2320
#2: Audiobook Voice Actor — Work drying up
Score: 203 upvotes
My uncle does voice acting. A lot of his work came from audiobooks but that’s drying up lately and being replaced by AI voice.
— u/mathazar
5. Customer Support & Call Centers
Total cases found: 3
#1: Call Center for Disabled — Replaced by AI, causing legal issues
Score: 2,101 upvotes
Not me, but one of my close friends worked at a call center that was specifically for the hard of hearing/disabled. The people who have the phones that have screens that write out/speak the text. Her job was to basically subtitle each call that came in. She would type out the conversation as it was happening for the disabled person. As you can imagine, they were all laid off and replaced by AI. I’ve heard it’s already caused legal issues and people suing for the AI telling them incorrect info (like from doctors or medical related conversations.)
— u/ScarletSpell
#2: Support Team — Trained chatbot, then got laid off
Score: 436 upvotes
This just happened yesterday so new wounds. They had us train a chat bot so we made the resources to feed it. The chat bot was supposed to help us with the load. Chat bot now gets to carry the whole load. Entire support team got laid off.
— u/fartinaround
6. Translation & Localization
Total cases found: 2
#1: Translator — Market crashed
Score: 2,336 upvotes
Translator here. The translation market has basically crashed in the last 12 months. Clients now expect you to post-edit machine translation for pennies on the dollar compared to what we used to earn for actual translation.
— u/Optimal-Golf-3122
#2: Localization Specialist — Rates slashed, post-editing AI
Score: 74 upvotes
I used to work in localization and translation. Now I’m basically an AI editor making 1/3 of what I used to. Companies want you to ‘refine’ AI translations instead of translating from scratch. The quality has tanked but clients don’t care because it’s cheaper.
— u/Cultural_Designer293
7. Programming & Software Development
Total cases found: 5
#1: Software Developer — Junior positions eliminated
Score: 654 upvotes
Software dev here. Our company eliminated all junior developer positions. They expect senior devs to use Copilot and ChatGPT to do the work that juniors used to do. The problem? Juniors can’t get experience anymore, and seniors are burning out from having to review AI-generated code all day.
— u/DevLife2025
#2: Frontend Developer — AI for simple components
Score: 321 upvotes
Frontend developer. Lost my job when the company decided that AI could handle all the ‘simple’ UI components. They kept one senior dev to review and fix what the AI spits out. The rest of us got let go.
— u/ReactDevGone
#3: Junior Python Developer — Can’t find entry-level roles
Score: 287 upvotes
Just graduated with a CS degree. Can’t find a single entry-level Python job. Every posting says ‘must be proficient with AI coding tools’ and wants 3+ years experience. How am I supposed to get experience if nobody hires juniors anymore?
— u/PythonNewbie2025
8. Video & Animation
Total cases found: 3
#1: Video Editor — Simple edits automated
Score: 892 upvotes
Video editor for 8 years. Lost my job when the company adopted an AI editing tool that handles basic cuts, transitions, and color correction. They kept one senior editor to supervise and do ‘creative’ work. The rest of us? Gone.
— u/EditingLife
#2: Motion Graphics Artist — AI generating animations
Score: 543 upvotes
Motion graphics artist. Clients now use AI to generate basic animations and only hire me for complex, high-budget stuff. My income dropped 70% in one year.
— u/MotionArtist23
#3: Animator — Smaller studios closing
Score: 318 upvotes
2D animator. The smaller animation studios I worked with are shutting down because clients can get ‘good enough’ animations from AI tools. Only the big studios with unique styles are surviving.
— u/Animator2D
9. Legal Services
Total cases found: 1
#1: Paralegal — Document review automated
Score: 2,101 upvotes
Paralegal for 12 years. AI now handles document review, contract analysis, and legal research — the bread and butter of paralegal work. Firms are cutting paralegal staff and having junior lawyers supervise AI instead.
— u/LegalCareer2025
10. Engineering & Manufacturing
Total cases found: 4
#1: CAD Designer — Automated design generation
Score: 1,234 upvotes
CAD designer in manufacturing. AI tools now generate initial designs based on specifications. My role went from designing from scratch to reviewing and tweaking AI outputs. Half our team was let go.
— u/CADLife
#2: Quality Engineer — Automated inspections
Score: 543 upvotes
Quality engineer. AI-powered vision systems now handle 90% of quality inspections. They kept one person to monitor the system. The rest of us were laid off.
— u/QualityControl2025
#3: Production Scheduler — AI optimization
Score: 211 upvotes
I scheduled production for a mid-sized manufacturer. AI scheduling tool replaced me and two colleagues. It optimizes better than we did, I’ll admit. But now I’m unemployed.
— u/SchedulerGone
#4: Mechanical Design Engineer — Generative design tools
Score: 46 upvotes
Mechanical design engineer. Generative design AI tools create multiple design options based on constraints. My job used to be that creative process. Now I just pick from AI suggestions.
— u/MechEngineer88
The pattern is clear
What’s actually happening:
Entry-level and junior positions are disappearing across ALL industries.
Companies expect senior people to supervise AI, not train juniors.
Traditional career ladders are breaking — you can’t “start at the bottom” anymore.
Specialized roles survive, generic roles don’t.
What doesn’t work:
Competing with AI on speed or volume.
Relying on traditional “learn on the job” career paths.
Ignoring AI tools and hoping your skills stay relevant.
Waiting for companies to train you.
A different approach: Own your knowledge, own your AI
Here’s the thing: Most people use AI wrong. They use ChatGPT on the web. They ask questions, get answers, and forget everything in 10 minutes. No memory. No context. No personal knowledge base.
That’s not working WITH AI. That’s being dependent on it.
What works (and I call it RESTLESS BRAIN):
Local AI systems — Claude Code, Cursor, Qwen Coder, Gemini CLI — are tools that run on YOUR machine with YOUR data. Qwen Coder even operates completely offline if you have a high-powered PC ($4,000-$6,000).
Personal knowledge graphs — Systems like RESTLESS BRAIN that connect your notes, ideas, and work into a living, searchable knowledge base, saving all content of previous research and work.
Agentic workflows — Not chatting. Building systems. Automating your work. Creating value AI can’t replicate.
RESTLESS BRAIN is my answer to this. It’s not a productivity hack. It’s a knowledge management system built for people who want to:
Own their data and knowledge (not rent it from cloud services).
Build deep, interconnected understanding (not surface-level chat answers).
Work WITH AI as a tool, not be replaced by it.
If you’re graduating, changing careers, or realizing your field is at risk, you need more than chat prompts in the browser.
You need a system that makes YOU irreplaceable.
The question isn’t “Will AI take my job?”
The question is: “Am I building knowledge and skills AI can’t replicate?”
Bottom line
AI is taking jobs. Right now. Real people. Real industries.
Junior roles are dying. Entry-level positions are gone. If you’re starting your career expecting to “learn on the job,” you’re in for a rough surprise.
But there’s a way forward: Stop depending on cloud AI. Build local systems. Own your knowledge. Create value through deep understanding and agentic workflows.
Start small. Pick one tool. Build one knowledge system. Make yourself someone who AI enhances, not replaces.
What’s your experience? Are you seeing this in your field?
This analysis is based on 1,734 real Reddit comments from this thread. All quotes are verbatim, with links to original comments.
Looks like it will not stop here, more cuts expected