Technology has transitioned societies from Agri-based to mechanized-productions; emphasis of technology from being just a tool to an intelligent partner, collaboration, personalization along human capabilities. This transformative potential has led to augmentation, transformation and potential replacement of various manual tasks where humans had reached saturation of physical capacity. As technology advances further, traditional jobs are exposed to risk of being automated, causing unemployment for certain segments of the workforce. This transformation raises the concern for obsolescence of traditional workforce due to AI-driven efficient productivity. This study aims to examine the studies on AI‘s evolution and its potential effects on the labour market. Contributing to the existing literature, this study provides a balanced perspective on AI-driven job creation and job displacement by synthesising findings from multiple sources. This study will provide valuable insights for business executives, governments, policy makers, and researchers for future directions to design strategic and adaptive mechanisms. This study is based on systematic review of scholarly articles, official reports from global institutions such as the OECD, IMF, and World Bank. To comprehend the literature, content analysis methodology was employed, requiring a detailed study of all selected articles. The conclusion between whether AI usage is human-augmenting or human-substituting is still uncertain, where AI is putting even knowledge-intensive occupations at risk of automation. Research work is still divided into groups proposing contradicting impacts.
Keywords: AI, Labor market, unemployment, structural transformation, skills gap.