Michigan workers are already feeling the AI jobs shift. About 10% of the state’s workforce is employed in occupations considered highly exposed to artificial intelligence, even as employers sharply increase demand for AI skills—and in some occupations, workers who have those skills can command significantly higher pay.

LANSING — Artificial intelligence threatens to transform some Michigan jobs, particularly office work, but new employment data reveals the other side of the AI revolution: Employers increasingly want workers who know how to use AI—and some are paying substantial premiums for those skills.

Michigan’s share of job postings seeking AI skills increased 113% between 2023 and 2025, according to a Lightcast analysis prepared for the state.

At the same time, roughly 10% of Michigan workers are employed in occupations considered highly exposed to AI, particularly office and administrative-support jobs.

That puts Michigan workers on both sides of the AI divide: some jobs could disappear or change dramatically while workers who learn to use the technology may become more valuable.

280,000 Technology Jobs Are Still Open

New national hiring data suggests AI isn’t simply eliminating technology employment.

TrueUp, a hiring platform tracking more than 9,000 startups and major technology companies, currently tracks more than 280,000 open technology jobs.

TrueUp also reports approximately 191,000 workers affected by technology-company layoffs so far in 2026.

Those layoffs shouldn’t automatically be blamed on AI. Companies eliminate jobs for many reasons, including restructuring, economic conditions, previous overhiring and changing business strategies.

But the combination of layoffs and rising openings suggests something more complicated than a straightforward technology-jobs collapse.

Companies appear to be changing which workers they want and which skills they value.

Hardware hiring is a particularly strong example.

TrueUp says demand has increased as companies spend billions of dollars building the physical infrastructure behind AI—including chips, servers, robotics, manufacturing systems and data centers.

That could create opportunities for Michigan’s manufacturing and engineering economy.

Michigan Employers Already Want AI Skills

Michigan’s own numbers show the transition underway.

Lightcast defines an AI-related job posting as one containing at least one identified artificial-intelligence skill, such as machine learning or generative AI.

In 2025, Michigan employers posted 7,551 computer and mathematical jobs requiring AI skills, along with 2,860 management jobs, 1,841 business and financial jobs and 1,217 architecture and engineering jobs seeking AI capabilities.

By industry, information technology generated 4,488 AI-related postings, advanced manufacturing produced 3,624 and mobility another 2,330.

Those occupational and industry categories overlap and should not be added together to create a statewide total.

But they demonstrate something important:

AI skills are spreading well beyond software companies.

Michigan employers increasingly want people who combine AI knowledge with leadership, communication, innovation and workflow-management skills.

That means knowing how to use AI effectively could become valuable even for workers who never develop AI software.

AI Skills Can Carry A Pay Premium

Perhaps the most striking finding involves money.

Lightcast found substantial salary premiums associated with AI skills in several Michigan occupational groups.

Its analysis estimates premiums of roughly $73,000 for some management and sales occupations and about $41,000 for office and administrative-support occupations associated with AI skills.

Those figures represent estimated salary premiums associated with AI skills—not total salaries, and they vary substantially by occupation.

But the direction is important.

The same technology threatening to automate some workplace tasks could make employees who know how to use it considerably more valuable.

Michigan nevertheless faces a problem.

State researchers found Michigan workers currently report AI skills at lower rates than workers nationally.

That creates a potential skills gap just as employers are increasing demand.

Ford CEO Warns Some Jobs Are Vulnerable

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley recently described a similar divide.

Farley identified finance employees doing spreadsheet work, call-center workers and entry-level programmers as examples of jobs vulnerable during the first stages of AI adoption.

But he sees increasing value in skilled workers capable of maintaining increasingly automated factories.

Ford employs more than 10,000 skilled-trades workers nationally who increasingly maintain robots, automated equipment and sophisticated manufacturing systems.

For Michigan, that distinction matters.

The immediate AI employment competition may not simply be humans versus machines.

It could increasingly be workers who know how to use AI competing with workers whose jobs consist largely of tasks AI can perform.

Michigan’s AI Jobs Divide

Highly exposed occupations

Lightcast says high AI exposure measures how significantly AI could affect or automate the tasks within an occupation. It does not mean those jobs will necessarily disappear.

Large Michigan occupations facing significant exposure include:

  • General office clerks — 88,132 workers
  • Customer-service representatives — 68,581
  • Secretaries and administrative assistants — 42,436
  • Office-support supervisors — 30,947
  • Medical secretaries and administrative assistants — 27,524

Where employers are seeking AI skills

Michigan’s 2025 AI-skill postings included:

  • Computer and mathematical occupations — 7,551

  • Management — 2,860

  • Business and financial operations — 1,841

  • Architecture and engineering — 1,217

Entry-Level Workers Face Another Risk

Even if technology hiring remains healthy, AI could change how people enter the workforce.

Generative AI can already perform some coding, research, data analysis and administrative work traditionally assigned to junior employees.

Companies could therefore need fewer people performing routine entry-level tasks while still competing for experienced engineers and employees with specialized skills.

That creates a longer-term challenge.

Entry-level jobs traditionally allow workers to acquire the experience required for senior positions. If AI removes some rungs from that career ladder, employers and educators will need new ways to develop experienced workers.

Michigan’s Challenge Is Becoming Clear

More than 280,000 national technology openings don’t prove fears about AI job losses are wrong.

And nearly 191,000 technology layoffs don’t prove AI is destroying technology employment.

Both can occur simultaneously.

Michigan’s own data suggests the workforce is being reorganized rather than simply eliminated.

Some occupations will shrink. Others will change. Workers who acquire AI skills may become more valuable.

For Michigan, the question is rapidly shifting from whether artificial intelligence will change jobs.

It already is.

The more urgent question is whether Michigan workers can acquire the skills employers increasingly demand before their existing skills lose value.

Tomorrow: Where can Michigan workers actually get those skills? MITechNews examines retraining programs, what they cost, how long they take and which jobs they could lead to.