In January 2025, North Star Policy Action published a report analyzing the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on Minnesota workers. In it, we calculated that 17% of the state’s workforce, or roughly 500,000 workers, were at high risk of having their jobs altered or replaced by AI. This analysis drew on a methodology that was created in 2020, two years before the public’s introduction to ChatGPT and the world of Generative AI (GenAI). Given that our previous work did not explicitly consider GenAI, this report utilizes an updated methodology to identify the impact of GenAI on Minnesota workers. In doing so, we find:

•  Approximately one-third of working Minnesotans, or over 800,000 workers,
  are in jobs with high levels of exposure to GenAI. For the purposes of this report, exposure to GenAI indicates half or more of a worker’s tasks could be partially or wholly accomplished by GenAI, meaning that exposure could lead to supplementing existing jobs, rather than replacement.
• Minnesota workers have the highest rate of GenAI exposure in the Midwest and the 10th highest rate in the nation.
•  Exposure to GenAI is greater among female workers in Minnesota and in occupations where union membership is lower.
• Beyond job automation, AI is increasingly playing a role in workplaces through electronic monitoring and algorithms making crucial employment decisions, such as hiring and firing. All Minnesota workers could be impacted by these uses of AI.
• US workers are expressing increased anxiety about AI and overwhelming support for more regulation of AI. Recent surveys show that workers in the US appear particularly concerned about AI relative to laborers in other countries.
• Despite these calls from workers, as well as the advancement of AI technology and the rise of AI adoption in US workplaces, legislation on AI and labor has remained stagnant in Minnesota.
• Minnesota lawmakers should take steps to pass AI guardrails that align worker welfare with AI innovation.

While it has only been a year since we published our previous work on AI and Minnesota workers, the analysis conducted here is an important and timely improvement on our previous effort for two reasons. First, AI technology is advancing rapidly. AI can complete many tasks today that it could not have accomplished one year ago, leading to an increased impact on workers.

Second, to help us better understand these advancements, North Star Policy Action has partnered with Dr. Manjeet Rege, Professor and Chair of the Department of Software Engineering and Data Science at the University of St. Thomas. As the Director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at St. Thomas and a co-author on this report, we have greater confidence thatour analysis accurately captures the cutting edge of AI’s changing role in the workplace.