Case Study: Workforce Planning in the Age of AI

<div> In 2024, ExampleState experienced the fastest population growth in the nation, placing unprecedented&nbsp;<span>demands on the Company (ExampleCo) to deliver and maintain nearly 80,000 center-line miles of&nbsp;</span><span>roadway (Company, 2024). Continued population growth, supply chain disruptions, and rising costs&nbsp;</span><span>highlight the need for ExampleCo to operate more efficiently. To address these challenges, ExampleCo&nbsp;</span><span>must analyze its internal operations in detail and strategically adopt emerging technologies to maintain&nbsp;</span><span>economic resilience, support national commerce, and meet increasing mobility needs (Bureau of&nbsp;</span><span>Transportation Statistics, 2023; Sheffi, 2025).</span> </div> <div> <br> </div> <div> This report addresses ExampleCo leadership’s key questions about AI’s impact on the workforce.&nbsp;<span>Where should ExampleCo deploy AI, what benefits are expected, and how will it&nbsp;</span><span>affect the workforce? T</span><span>o answer these questions, we introduce a new methodology that breaks jobs into their basic units: tasks.&nbsp;</span><span>For&nbsp;</span><span>each task, we evaluate its cost and assess to what extent it can be accelerated by an AI-based system. This&nbsp;</span><span>task-based framework allows for a precise assessment of AI’s impact across roles, departments, and the&nbsp;</span><span>organization.&nbsp;</span><span>This research was conducted at the MIT Center for Transportation &amp; Logistics, with a focus on artificial&nbsp;</span><span>intelligence, labor economics, and supply chain management. The report provides data-driven insights to support&nbsp;</span><span>ExampleCo’s strategic decisions regarding AI’s impact and investment.</span> </div>