For all the talk about AI, leaders keep asking me one question:

👉 “Where is the actual impact? Beyond hype, what is AI really doing to jobs and industries?”

That's why this week, I want to dedicate this whole edition to The Anthropic Economic Index.

Anthropic, the team behind Claude, just released an economic report measuring how AI is changing work today – not in 10 years, not in theory, but right now.

🔹 Which industries are seeing the biggest AI impact? 🔹 What kinds of tasks is AI automating most? 🔹 Which jobs are most exposed – and which are most enhanced?

This report is gold for cutting through the noise. Let's break it down.

🔍 The Key Insights from the Anthropic Economic Index

1️⃣ AI is Already Reshaping Work – But Unevenly

The report found that AI isn’t hitting every industry the same way. Some jobs are seeing automation faster than expected, while others are being amplified by AI.

🔹 Highly exposed industries: Tech, finance, legal, consulting, and marketing – roles that involve a lot of text-based, analytical, or decision-making work.

🔹 Less exposed (for now): Physical labor, trades, and human-first service industries like healthcare.

🔹 The big surprise? AI is affecting higher-income jobs before lower-income ones – because knowledge work is easier to automate than hands-on labor.

💡 What this means: AI isn't just coming for repetitive jobs as we might have thought – it's transforming high-skilled industries faster than expected.

2️⃣ AI is Shifting from "Automation" to "Amplification"

We all have a lot of fear around AI replacing jobs, but the data suggests something more nuanced.

🔹 Many tasks are being automated (think data entry, summarization, first drafts).

🔹 But for many of us, AI is enhancing work instead of replacing it – helping with research, decision-making, and creative processes.

💡 What this means: AI won’t necessarily take your job – but someone using AI might. I know you've heard this a thousand times (just this week), but now there’s hard data behind it.

3️⃣ The Companies Moving Fastest on AI Are Gaining an Edge

Organizations that are experimenting with AI today – even in small ways – are seeing clear advantages.

🔹 Teams using AI-powered tools are reporting faster output, higher productivity, and improved accuracy.

🔹 AI-driven companies are building data-driven decision-making muscles that lagging competitors won’t be able to replicate overnight.

💡 What this means: AI adoption is becoming a real competitive advantage.

💡 What Should We as Leaders Do Next?

1️⃣ Assess AI’s Impact on Your Industry Now

✅ How exposed is your industry? If you're in finance, consulting, or marketing, AI is already here.

✅ Where is AI most useful? Look for tasks AI can enhance or automate – even if it's just making workflows more efficient.

2️⃣ Build AI Skills into Your Organization’s DNA

✅ Encourage and invest in AI literacy – make sure teams aren’t afraid of AI but know how to use it.

✅ Implement small AI experiments – automation pilots, AI-powered decision tools, or AI-enhanced workflows.

3️⃣ Treat AI as a Leadership Priority, Not Just an IT Issue

✅ AI is not just a tool – it’s a shift in how businesses operate. We can’t just throw tech at broken processes. We need to rethink them through a lens of technology.

✅ Leaders who make AI a strategic focus today will have a massive advantage in the next two years. So we need to own it at the business level, partnering with IT, L&D, and other functions to bring it to life.

🚀 Bringing It All Together

The Anthropic Economic Index is a sobering wake-up call.

It tells us that AI is:

📌 Impacting knowledge work first.

📌 Not just automating - but amplifying human skills.

📌 Creating competitive gaps between AI adopters and AI skeptics.

So the real question is - where do we want to be in this shift?

I'll see you next week.

‍