November 29, 2025 – A groundbreaking simulation tool has been jointly developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. This new tool aims to recreate the U.S. labor market using a “digital twin” approach.
Dubbed the “Iceberg Index,” the tool operates a virtual AI workforce on a supercomputing platform that runs parallel to the real – world 151 million workers. Its main purpose is to observe how many actual jobs could potentially be replaced by AI.
According to MIT, which cited the simulation results, the AI workforce, in theory, can already cover 11.7% of the U.S. job market. In terms of salary implications, its potential impact could reach a staggering $1.2 trillion in the financial, healthcare, and professional services sectors.
The “Iceberg Project” has conducted an in – depth analysis. It has looked into 3,000 counties, 923 types of occupations, and 32,000 skills, evaluating whether AI agents can perform the same skills and tasks. The research team admits that this index is not an exact predictor of future workplace changes. However, it has already collaborated with multiple state governments. Through these partnerships, the simulation tool is being used to pre – assess the impact of AI and offer suggestions for future labor force retraining.
Moreover, this index has the unique ability to show job displacement scenarios at the level of individual counties and even census blocks. It covers all 50 states across the U.S., rather than just focusing on traditional tech hubs.
