New research has found implementing AI tools across various business functions is likely to reduce human workforces over the next five years.
The survey from Adecco of senior-level execs from 2,000 large companies worldwide alluded to AI's negative impacts on the workforce after many had eased their concerns in recent months, and many more became distracted with re-introduced office-working policies.
According to the report, an alarming two in five (41%) said that they foresee a decrease in their company’s workforce due to AI.
AI might replace workers, but it’s not the end of the world
The revelation comes as more companies accept and implement artificial intelligence to streamline operations and boost efficiency.
More broadly, perceptions of generative AI have been split. Many credit the technology for its ability to generate text, photos, and now videos from natural language prompts, while others have expressed concern over job insecurity.
A reasonably new technology, AI really started to gain traction when OpenAI launched ChatGPT as a public preview in late November 2023. Since then, seemingly hundreds if not thousands of AI tools have sprung up, designed to tackle a wide range of tasks.
Moreover, many tech giants have already reportedly started exploring and actioning layoffs as direct and indirect results of AI.
Despite the highly negative outlook and the fact that Adecco’s findings align with those of the World Economic Forum’s report in 2023, there is some hope. That same WEF report predicted that twice as many people anticipated that AI would create jobs as those who thought the technology would eliminate roles.
Others are less concerned – despite the promised productivity benefits, many companies are still (seriously) lagging behind in properly adopting AI, with poor data foundations preventing them from going all-in.
All in all, it’s clear that AI won’t simply replace all human workers, and for many more years, at least, workers have very little to worry about and maybe even future opportunities to look forward to.
Via Reuters
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