Companies embracing AI most are hiring more, including entry-level

A fresh study is challenging the most alarming predictions about artificial intelligence and job displacement, offering a more nuanced picture for workers worried about their futures.

Companies that actively integrate AI into their operations are actually hiring more people, not fewer. According to a late June report from financial platform Ramp and workforce analytics firm Revelio Labs, businesses that adopt AI see their headcount grow by 10.2% over the two years following implementation.

“This is a moment where job seekers are getting very mixed signals,” said Ara Kharazian, lead economist at Ramp, in an interview with ZDNET. “You’re told you must learn AI to stay relevant, but also that AI is the very technology that might get you laid off.”

The report attempts to cut through this confusion. The 10.2% growth isn’t spread evenly. It’s concentrated among what the paper calls “high-intensity adopters” , companies making long-term, substantial investments in AI rather than just offering chatbot subscriptions or running short experiments. These firms spend an average of $33.67 per person per month on AI, compared to just $2.78 among low-intensity adopters.

It might seem counterintuitive, but Kharazian says joining a company that’s heavily using AI is actually the safer career move.

“That’s the one that will grow faster,” he explained.

This research arrives as headlines warn of layoffs tied to AI and a shrinking job market. Forecasts vary widely. Forrester predicts AI will replace about 6% of U. S. jobs by 2030, roughly 10.4 million positions. The Boston Consulting Group puts that figure between 10% and 15%. And Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, though he has since softened his stance, warned in 2025 that half of entry-level white-collar jobs could vanish.

The report offers a counterpoint specifically for entry-level positions. Among high-intensity AI adopters, entry-level headcount actually rose by 12%. One theory is that these companies actively seek recent graduates who already know how to use AI tools.

“Young people are especially well positioned to show they can introduce these new technologies and apply them effectively,” Kharazian said.

To compile the data, Ramp and Revelio analyzed records from over 21,000 U. S. firms, linking Ramp’s card and bill payment data with Revelio’s workforce information. This allowed researchers to track monthly spending per employee on AI services like coding agents, large language models, GPU cloud computing, API tokens, and model inference during the first three months after adoption.

The report also sounds an alarm for smaller businesses. They are far less likely to be high-intensity AI adopters, often lacking venture capital backing, engineering focus, or the professional networks where AI adoption is common.

“Your ability to use AI well is heavily influenced by who you know, where you can hire from, and the networks you’re connected to,” Kharazian noted. The risk, he added, is that smaller firms could be outcompeted or even displaced by newer businesses that master AI from the start.

The study acknowledges there’s more to uncover. While the numbers show growth, they don’t pinpoint exactly which practices drive it. The report suggests possibilities like product acceleration, improved sales productivity, and faster internal analysis. Kharazian also plans to investigate the types of candidates being hired, the specific roles they fill, and whether these patterns extend beyond white-collar work.