Artificial intelligence is spreading so quickly in Denmark that 59 percent of all Danish companies have now adopted it – up from 42 percent in 2025. And it is already having an effect:

In the companies that began using artificial intelligence in 2023 and 2024, the number of employees is growing less than in other companies.

More specifically, employment is growing 11 percent less at these companies. And it is young people and those with long educations who are being hit hardest.

That is the conclusion of a new analysis from Danmarks Nationalbank.

»It is probably already clear to most people that artificial intelligence is making its way into Danish workplaces. What is new is that we can now see the consequences in our data. It is clear that companies that start using artificial intelligence hire fewer people in the years that follow«, says Signe Krogstrup, a governor at the central bank.

There is a wide gap in which jobs are most likely to be hit hardest by artificial intelligence.

In companies that use AI, employment among the youngest workers, those ages 18 to 30, grows a full 15.5 percent less, the analysis shows. For every other age group, the effect is a more modest 3.7 percent.

There is an obvious explanation, the central bank assesses: AI is best at taking over the often routine tasks that, until now, have been entry-level work for newly hired young employees.

A similarly clear difference shows up when it comes to education. Companies that use AI hire especially fewer people with higher education than other companies do. Earlier studies have shown that knowledge-intensive fields, such as legal work, are the most exposed.

At first glance, it may sound like a bleak prospect that artificial intelligence is taking over entry-level work – because how are young people with higher education supposed to get a foothold in the labor market and build experience in their fields?

But in fact, it does not appear to be a problem, the central bank notes. The analysis contains another piece of news:

When AI takes over jobs, people find work elsewhere.

Bulletproof employment

Even though the introduction of artificial intelligence has already taken over many tasks, it has not led to an overall decline in employment. Not even among the groups that now have a harder time finding work at companies that have begun using artificial intelligence. There are also no signs that wages have been affected.

And it may very well continue that way in the years ahead.

The central bank’s experts find it most likely that artificial intelligence, in the coming years as well, will be rolled out »at a pace where the affected employees can find employment elsewhere«.

In other words: AI will gradually take over some tasks and jobs, but not so quickly that it will produce widespread unemployment. Companies will redesign work so that people increasingly focus on things where introducing artificial intelligence makes less sense. And new graduates will find other work.

That is the central bank’s main scenario: The future it considers most likely.

»And there is no doubt that it is a really good scenario«, Signe Krogstrup says.

If that holds true, Denmark will avoid a problem that is often raised in the debate over artificial intelligence: Some argue that AI differs from the introduction of the steam engine, the assembly line, and the computer because it will reshape the labor market far faster than those earlier technological revolutions – so fast that people will not be able to find new jobs in time.

We will probably avoid that problem because Danish society is already highly digitized and because it is relatively easy to change jobs in Denmark. In other words, we have already adapted to some degree – and we will be able to adapt fairly quickly going forward, the central bank assesses.

Still, there is some risk that the trajectory changes and that we end up in the scenario some warn about: that AI spreads faster than new job opportunities emerge. In that case, unemployment could rise in the most exposed occupations.

»If young people and those with higher education start having such a hard time finding jobs that their overall employment falls, then we are in a new situation. We will keep an eye on that«, Signe Krogstrup says.

But there is also the other possibility: that artificial intelligence could actually create more jobs – for people, that is. That could happen if AI makes it easier to start new companies and develop new products and services, creating a need for more labor.

The fact that young people’s jobs are most exposed to competition from artificial intelligence is not a trend unique to Denmark. A study from Stanford University in the United States paints the same picture.

The researchers conclude that artificial intelligence does not appear to have led to lower employment in society overall – but that employment among young people is lower than it otherwise would have been. That is the point made by Anna Ilsøe, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen who studies the consequences of digitalization for the labor market.

It may seem like an obvious advantage for an individual company, but it could create a broader problem over the longer term, she said.

»You use experienced staff to train AI and check for errors, and that slows down the hiring of young people. But the long-term risk is that you do not train young people, so they cannot quality-check AI when the experienced workers retire«, Anna Ilsøe says.

Missing analog life

She is pleased that empirical research is now being published on the effects of artificial intelligence on the Danish labor market and says she looks forward to reading the central bank’s analysis.

It remains an open question whether the Danish labor market can continue to absorb young academics who are no longer, to the same extent, being hired by companies that use artificial intelligence. It may well turn out that it can. In major rounds of layoffs at companies like Novo Nordisk, most people have been hired elsewhere, she notes.

But if AI fundamentally changes demand for labor, it will hardly be easy.

»We could end up going through a transition where we have to move some office workers into more hands-on fields like care work, nursing, and the like, which are not nearly as exposed to competition from AI. That will require a lot, because many probably assumed they would move upward within their own field, not retrain for something completely different«, Anna Ilsøe says.

Still, it may not be that difficult after all, she adds.

If machines take over so much, many people may come to miss a more analog life – and then the drift toward other professions could happen on its own.