Of all the potential risks and promises of AI, perhaps none are as immediately dire as this: How will it impact jobs? Will employers still need workers? What will it mean if the answer is “no?” Depending on who you’re talking to, the prospect of a future with fewer jobs is either liberating or terrifying. But for a more measured reaction, it helps to look at the data. Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson has done just that, drilling down into AI’s effects on employment, upskilling, output, and more. In a conversation with The Atlantic’s CEO Nicholas Thompson, Brynjolfsson goes through his studies of call centers and other AI-exposed fields, and the surprising findings that could bring some much-needed reality to our fears