Andrew Bailey says training workers to use artificial intelligence will be “vital” to tackling disruption in the UK labor market. He said there are already signs that AI is changing careers and hiring patterns.
At a conference in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Bailey said the long-term impact of AI on employment remains “highly uncertain” but warned that early indicators point to significant changes.
“In the UK, over the last three years, new online job vacancies in the roles most exposed to AI have fallen by more than twice as much as in the least exposed group,” he said.
“However, on a positive note, new tasks have increased significantly, such as the integration of AI tools into company workflows.”
Bailey cautioned against drawing overly simplistic conclusions about the impact of AI on jobs, stressing that education and reskilling are key to ensuring workers are not left behind. “Education and training in AI skills will be critical,” he said. “We should not resort to overly simplistic conclusions about employment effects.”
His comments came at the end of a volatile week for global markets, in which renewed concerns over artificial intelligence shaved more than $1 trillion from the combined value of the world’s largest technology and software companies.
Investors’ nerves were partly shaken by the launch of new products from Anthropic, one of the world’s leading AI developers. The company introduced tools to automate legal work such as contract reviews, as well as its latest model, Claude Opus 4.6, capable of analyzing complex information and creating presentations and spreadsheets.
The developments fueled fears of job displacement and business model disruption, and led to sharp falls in the share prices of listed companies in the UK considered to be heavily impacted by AI. These included RELX, London Stock Exchange Group and Sage.
At the same time, there was growing concern that enthusiasm for AI in the US technology sector might be outdated. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft have jointly committed to spending about $660 billion this year on data centers and advanced computer chips to support AI development.
Fears that such large capital investments may not produce sufficient returns have weighed on stock prices and contributed to greater market turmoil. The decline follows years of strong gains in U.S. technology stocks driven by investor optimism about AI-powered productivity improvements, which has also raised concerns about a possible bubble.
Bailey said there were signs of “fear of missing out” in markets, reinforced by claims that AI represents a structural break with previous technology cycles. “We’ve seen arguments like ‘this time is different’, for example because of the expected productivity benefits of AI,” he said.
He warned that this narrative could lead to complacency among both investors and policymakers. “Expectations of AI-driven productivity improvements may be disappointed,” he said.
Despite the caution, Bailey expressed broad optimism about the long-term economic potential of AI and robotics. He said he believes the technologies can increase productivity and growth by automating repetitive tasks and creating entirely new types of work.
However, he added that the transition will not be painless. “Some industries may shrink, others may grow, and affected workers will need to retrain to adapt their skills,” he said, reiterating that investment in training would be crucial in shaping the future of the UK labor market.
