Work After AI glossary

Work After AI uses a number of terms with a fixed meaning. They are defined here so that they can be cited unambiguously. To the report: Work After AI 2026.

The three forces: The report's framework. The AI job killer headline fuses three processes that have different causes and run at different speeds: the AI argument, the career gap at the entry level and the long rebuild. The report separates them and tests each against its own evidence.
The AI argument: Job cuts that are publicly justified with artificial intelligence but usually have a different cause, such as correcting overstaffing from the years of cheap money. The justification lands better with capital markets than a plain cost-cutting decision. The first and loudest of the three forces, short term and driven by quarterly reporting.
The career gap at the entry level: The decline in hiring of young entrants in the occupations most exposed to AI, while experienced workers in the same occupations hold steady or grow. The cause is disputed: the technology, the interest rate turn of 2022 and remote work are all candidates. The second of the three forces, medium term.
The long rebuild: The actual effect of the technology inside companies: the slow reworking of processes and the building of the knowledge an organisation needs to use artificial intelligence in daily operations. The third and most consequential of the three forces, long term and barely visible from outside.
The gap between pilot and production: The distance between the artificial intelligence that is bought and trialled and the part of it that actually works in daily operations.
The productive rate (from 2027): The report's lead indicator: the share of companies in which at least one AI system takes over a core task in regular operation, outside pilots, tests and individual initiatives. It will be measured from the 2027 edition onwards.
The DACH board pulse (from 2027): A fixed catalogue of core questions asked in the same form every year. The questionnaire, the number of participants and the fieldwork period are published with every edition.
The external benchmarks: Dated forecasts by vendors, market researchers and researchers that the report archives with their source, target year and own interest, and grades the following year alongside its own predictions.