While the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionise industries, save costs, and boost productivity, it has triggered concerns among some about its potential to displace the human work force.
Seen as a key tool, AI is utilised in work to automate repetitive tasks, streamline processes, and increase productivity, its ability to analyse vast amounts of data, make complex decisions, and learn from experience makes it a desired tool for many jobs.
While many are worried about the security of their jobs as a result of the rise of AI, studies show that majority of businesses do not yet trust AI as much as they do their human workforce.
Worries over ‘AI takeover’
According to a recent study by The Conference Board, “half of CEOs and 51% of C-Suite executives believe AI will displace labor in their organisations, creating significant challenges for talent management.”
“For those wondering when artificial intelligence will start replacing human workers, the answer is that it already has,” said technology research company, Tech.co.
Several companies are turning to AI to streamline operations over humans, with examples including:
Additionally, some companies, like IBM, plan to replace back-office roles with AI in the coming years, raising further concerns about job displacement.
According to research from Tech.co some of the jobs that have been identified as being most “at risk of being replaced by AI” due to the increase in capabilities of AI include:
Most companies opting for productivity, not culling the workforce
While predictions at Goldman Sachs have estimated that around 300-million full-time jobs could be at risk of replacement due to AI, research in Tech.co’s annual report shows that whilst AI has become increasingly intertwined in modern offices, majority of businesses have said that AI tools had no impact on removing human jobs.
Tech.co’s study highlights that AI’s integration into tasks like writing, design, and scheduling has not significantly replaced jobs as anticipated.
Notably, 63% of AI applications in writing have not replaced any jobs, with similar findings in design (51%), language translation (50%), automated data entry (47%), and scheduling (47%).
“Rather than replacing jobs, this kind of AI usage is assisting current employees to improve productivity,” said Tech.co.
“This is likely due to the fact that these kinds of jobs are fairly standard in the day-to-day of employees that perform other tasks, so their automation isn’t replacing every job role entirely,” it added.
Additionally, according to the report, one of the primary reasons that AI has not “completely transformed the business world by now” could be that AI “is simply not reliable enough in these early stages to be fully trusted with business operations.”
“We found that 49% of business leaders are concerned about the risk of large language AI models like ChatGPT when it comes to generating false information [while] 39% said they were not at all concerned, with 12% saying that they weren’t entirely sure,” said Tech.co.
“Even with recent updates to popular platforms like ChatGPT, the distrust of generative AI technology is very much warranted,” the group added.
