Experts claim AI set to eliminate 300 million jobs

Recent advances in technology have taken the world by storm, with companies launching their own versions of artificial intelligence apps for different tasks. The trend has also given rise to fears that AI may eventually replace humans in several spheres, making them ineligible for work in certain sectors.

Now a report by a leading global investment banking firm, Goldman Sachs, has revealed that AI could impact two-thirds of the jobs in the US and the European Union.

"Using data on occupational tasks in both the US and Europe, we find that roughly two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work," read an excerpt from the report.

"Extrapolating our estimates globally suggests that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation," it adds.

The report further stated that automation will also help economies develop faster, as the adoption of AI could increase the total value of goods and services created worldwide by 7% in the next 10 years.

"The large share of employment exposed to automation from generative AI raises the potential for a boom in labour productivity that significantly increases global output," read the report.

It added that AI will also be able to help create more opportunities and, at the same time, complement some jobs.

The report went on to highlight the areas where the disruption will be the least and the fields that will be most affected by it. Administrative and legal positions are at the greatest risk of task replacement, while physically intensive jobs such as maintenance and construction are at lower risk.

It also highlighted how eventually people replaced by AI would be able to get new work opportunities, thereby, increasing the total output of a country.

"We anticipate that many workers that are displaced by AI automation will eventually become reemployed—and therefore boost total output—in new occupations that emerge either directly from AI adoption or in response to the higher level of aggregate and labour demand generated by the productivity boost from non-displaced workers," it added.

The report comes at a time when the world is debating whether AI can replace humans in specific vocations. There is a lot of hype surrounding the latest innovations by tech firms such as Microsoft and Google.

The development of chatbots such as ChatGPT has made companies rethink the way they function. A poll conducted by Resumebuilder.com revealed that nearly half of the US-based businesses have already started using ChatGPT in their company.

AI has already ushered in several changes in industries such as travel and tourism. People can now book flights, restaurants, and hotels with the help of these chatbots. These apps work as virtual assistants and have replaced travel agents.

Airports are also using these AI apps to assist flyers. London's Heathrow Airport uses robots to help passengers find terminals. A report published by Vero Solutions revealed that robots may replace humans in the check-in process by 2030.

It is being used by businesses and companies to gather and interpret data to provide better services to their customers and use this data to make better business strategies. The development of Microsoft's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, and Notion Labs Inc.'s Notion AI has shaken the tech sector.

More than 1,100 eminent persons, including Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and Tristan Harris of the Centre for Humane Technology, have signed an open letter calling for a 6-month pause "on the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4."

The letter calls for proper planning and management before AI is let loose completely. "Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders," reads the letter.

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," it adds.