Years ago, Hope Hartman was in the software industry, where AI was already beginning to reshape how people worked. She warmed up to AI, which, like the technologies that came before it, she saw as an equalizer—a resource for all that could help advance a career at any level.
But Hartman also knew the limits of AI. As she experimented with the technology at home, she found that it was far from capable of replacing one of her team members at work. She understood why businesses might need guidance on how to adopt AI, although now she believes it’ll be difficult to avoid it completely.
Today, Hartman is a nationally recognized AI expert and executive director of the Colorado Small Business Development Center serving Larimer County. Part of her job is to advise entrepreneurs on incorporating AI into their businesses.
“There are roles for everybody if you’re willing to learn,” she says.
Others aren’t as optimistic. Dozens of major U.S. companies have made workforce reductions or said they plan to cut jobs in part because artificial intelligence will help them do the same amount of work with fewer people. Oracle, one of the world’s largest tech companies with a hub in Broomfield, has eliminated 21,000 jobs over the past year for that reason, according to a June report by CNBC. Companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Meta and Coinbase have similarly revealed plans to lay off tens of thousands of employees globally as they invest more aggressively in AI.
So far, layoffs have been heavily concentrated in the tech and finance industries, though some say jobs that have been cut could reappear in the near future. Like technologies of the past, AI could mean the end of some jobs, but it could also create new opportunities for employees who are willing to adapt, local experts say.
AI and job losses
From marketing firms and law offices to manufacturers and local retailers, businesses are rapidly weaving AI into everyday operations. It is often used to improve efficiency in repetitive work, like updating spreadsheets, or to draft communications such as templates for customer complaints. Using AI for those tasks nearly always saves business owners time and money. But they are also turning to AI for more complicated tasks that could further boost productivity and cut costs, Hartman says.
AI can help businesses establish and track a budget, and it can also provide budget and sales analysis that some business owners may not have had the time or resources to do before, she says. For example, retailers can use AI to identify which of their items sell well during specific times of year, which means they can develop a plan to trim excessive orders and capitalize on popular sales.
Most businesses are already engaging with AI at some level, but it will take some time to understand whether that translates to real job losses in Northern Colorado, says Adam Crowe, economic development manager for Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development. Job cuts at large corporations will inevitably trickle down to affect workers in the region, but there isn’t yet a way to measure their magnitude or whether locally based companies are following suit, he says.
“I don’t know that there’s any definitive data anywhere that is saying AI is [causing job losses in Northern Colorado],” Crowe says. “When you think about all that’s happening, and if it’s due to AI or other factors, it’s hard to sort them all out.”
Those factors include changes to immigration policies, an aging workforce, population decline and new tariff policies that have all recently contributed to either job postings or layoffs, he says.
Overall, the unemployment rate in Fort Collins and Loveland in the first five months of 2026 hovered near or below four percent, which is comparable to the unemployment rate of the last several years and slightly lower than the national unemployment rate, according to preliminary numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To understand how AI is impacting the local job market, it’s more helpful to think in terms of tasks and skill sets rather than full jobs or careers, Crowe says. For example, some of the tasks typically handled by an administrative support person, such as scheduling meetings, can be handled by AI. If one organization historically had four people working in administrative support, it’s reasonable to imagine that, over time, it will need only two people in those roles, he says.
But a noticeable reduction in jobs across multiple industries won’t happen overnight, Crowe says. Businesses, just like individual consumers, have begun to adopt AI at different rates. Most of them—especially midsize and small businesses, which are more likely to be based locally—are still in some stage of experimentation, he says.
“They’re doing a pilot with one of their teams, or they’re trying it out in sales or after sales follow-ups,” Crowe says. “Things along those lines.”
Only about one percent of companies in the U.S. have fully integrated AI, meaning that those companies have already established policies, work requirements and a standard operating procedure around when and how to use it, he says. That means that most companies probably haven’t made big moves when it comes to AI and their workforce.
Some major companies have even reversed job cuts that they made in anticipation of AI adoption. Gartner, a global advisory firm, issued a report in February predicting that half of companies that cut their customer service staff due to AI will rehire staff to perform similar jobs by 2027 due to the limits of AI and rising customer expectations.
Advice for jobseekers
Some jobs and industries are more susceptible to an AI “takeover” than others. Crowe has identified an uptick in the number of people in the information technology industry, like computer programmers, who are looking for jobs. People who have jobs that rely heavily on computer work, especially computer work with repetitive tasks, are generally at a higher risk of seeing their role change due to AI, he says.
On the flip side, people with more physical jobs or those who must use high levels of social and emotional skills are more insulated, Crowe says. Examples include plumbers, school counselors and childcare workers.
Current or prospective employees who rely heavily on computer work can greatly improve their preparedness by getting educated around AI, says Chris Berger, therapist and owner of Foundations Counseling, a Northern Colorado-based counseling center that also offers career coaching. Before getting advanced training, he advises jobseekers to find a simple program that gets users more familiar with AI use and its impact on the global economy. He recommends Coursiv, an online platform that offers short lessons over the course of 28 days.
Hartman says most people in the workforce should familiarize themselves with AI as a standard workplace skill. She compares it to the rise of social media, when businesses increasingly expected employees to know how to use those platforms professionally. Today, many workers aren’t yet aware of features that make AI more useful on the job, she says.
For those who are concerned about AI impacting their career, Berger suggests doing job searches in both their current industry and outside of it. He calls this a “fact-finding search” that can reveal what jobs are still needed in the market and what skills they require. If a jobseeker is interested in careers that require more AI experience, they can work on expanding their skills with more intensive programs, he says.
Berger also recommends that employees talk with their boss about how they can continue providing value to their company—even, and especially, if their role is expected to change due to AI.
“Have honest conversations,” he says. “What do they think this is going to look like in three, six, nine, 12 months? What do they think the organization is going to need from them in a year or two?”
AI is changing the hiring process for both jobseekers and employers, who respectively use it for things like cover letters and searching for key phrases in resumes. But Crowe cautions against leaning too heavily on AI for these tasks.
Candidates who use AI for their cover letters often turn in something that is nearly identical to two or three other candidates who used AI for the task, Crowe says, so they are less likely to stand out. On the employer side, using AI to filter candidates runs the risk of them only hiring people similar to those already on staff, which inhibits diverse hiring practices and could stifle a company’s talent pool, he says.
The conversations that ultimately shape hiring decisions still happen between people, Crowe says, and businesses especially prioritize candidates who they believe would be a good culture fit. Networking is one of the most effective things a jobseeker can do to fulfill their career aspirations—including those whose jobs might someday be supplanted by AI.
“The No. 1 way to find a job in our economy is through who you know,” Crowe says.
