By Dan Milmo,Aisha Down
Publication Date: 2026-02-13 17:00:00
The message from investors to the software, asset management, legal services and logistics industries this month was clear: AI is coming for your business.
The release of new, increasingly powerful AI tools has coincided with a stock market downturn that has hit sectors as diverse as drug distribution, commercial real estate and price comparison sites. Advances in technology are making predictions increasingly credible that they could eliminate the need for millions of white-collar jobs, or at least reduce the profits of established companies.
Carl Benedikt Frey, author of “How Progress Ends” and associate professor of AI and work at the University of Oxford, says investors are reassessing the value of companies that rely heavily on selling software or expertise.
“AI transforms once-scarce expertise into cheaper, faster and increasingly comparable results, shrinking margins long before entire jobs disappear.”
Fears of widespread job losses increased…
