Artificial intelligence has fueled fear that millions of workers may eventually lose their jobs. But Paul Osterman, an emeritus professor of work and organization studies at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, says focusing exclusively on how many jobs AI might eliminate overlooks another major workforce change that is already underway and that AI could exacerbate.

In his recently released book, Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment, Osterman highlights how employers are already becoming less committed to workers, with 35% of current employees falling into a category he describes as “disposable,” according to a national survey he conducted of over 6,000 workers. That term, as Osterman defines it, refers to three groups of people: contractors, freelancers, and marginal employees. Contractors, he explains, can range from janitors to travel nurses to anyone who works for a contracting company or staffing firm. Freelancers, he says, can range from gig workers like Uber drivers to someone who does computer programming on the side, while marginal workers include people who are legal employees of an organization, but have limited career ladder opportunities.

“So examples of [marginal workers] are adjunct faculty or staff attorneys who do the grunt work in law firms, but will never be........

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