Generative AI and the future of jobs
We’ve often heard that generative AI will affect many of the jobs people do today. But they will not all be affected in the same way.
We are seeing more and more that some professions will be changed more than others.
A recent study by Indeed’s economic research team, Hiring Lab, found that some of the most frequently posted jobs – including nurses, care workers and chefs – are among the 35% of positions that will be the less affected.
However, if your job can be done remotely or involves software development, there is a much higher chance that you will use AI to augment your work. Or, worst case scenario, fire you.
So what does this mean for the future of work? On the one hand, those who occupy the 20% of jobs highly likely to be transformed by generative AI are in a privileged position. The ability to adopt generative AI into their workflow will make them more efficient, more productive and more valuable.
On the other hand, given that many of these positions – including doctors, lawyers and software engineers – command salaries at the higher end of the scale, this could be seen as leading to inequality growing in society.
The question of skills
A job description is usually presented as a selection of necessary skills. This was used as a starting point to begin analyzing the potential impact of generative AI on staff roles.
The objective was to answer a question that concerns everyone but which is certainly not specific to this latest wave of technological disruption.
Chris Hyams, CEO of Indeed, tells me: “Frankly, the question of whether technology will help or hurt jobs is a very old question. This question dates back a few hundred years, when the Luddites first destroyed the looms in the UK because they thought jobs were disappearing.
It is easier to assess the impact of generative AI on individual skills than on all jobs. For some skills, including vehicle driving, construction skills, and veterinary skills, it’s pretty useless. For others, like accounting skills, legal tasks, and software development, it’s great.
However, analyzed this way, it seems likely that almost all jobs will be affected in some way, as almost all involve to some extent skills that can be improved through generative AI.
Teachers, researchers, project managers, healthcare professionals, content creators, and office workers also use these skills.
“We think AI is going to transform almost all jobs, the way they’re done, not necessarily eliminate them, but they will transform,” Hyams says.
New job
In addition to changing existing jobs, new jobs are likely to emerge to allow businesses and governments to benefit from the emergence of generative AI – hopefully in a safe and ethical manner!
Andrew NG, an AI expert and co-founder of Google Brain, was among the first to offer a balanced assessment of how this will happen.
He believes that transforming the way we do existing jobs will also lead to the creation of many new jobs. And we’re already starting to see that happen, with openings popping up for positions like AI Prompt Engineer or AI listeners.
But it is widely recognized – by Ng and others – that it could also lead to job losses. Again, this will largely affect roles where many skills can be augmented or automated. It seems likely, however, that a disproportionate impact could be felt on lower-paid jobs. This may include customer service advisors, translators, assistants and office staff.
The evolution of skills
Rather than having to develop new skills (or completely change careers), I think this shows that skills evolve.
Remember, when the pocket calculator was invented in the 20th century, many believed that this would lead to a decline in our ability to do basic mathematics. What actually happened was that many people – especially schoolchildren – became able to solve more complex math problems more quickly.
But in addition to improving our technical skills, delegating routine tasks – planning, writing reports – to machines allows us more time to focus on the human aspect of our work.
For lawyers and doctors, that means spending more face-to-face time with patients and less time reading charts and reports. Teachers will spend less time grading homework and more one-on-one time with students. Real estate agents will use generative AI to create property listings or sales reports while focusing on understanding buyers’ unique needs.
It is also important to emphasize that employers have a responsibility to contribute to this development. This is in the interest of their employees, who will benefit from personal development. But it is also in the interest of their businesses which will grow thanks to the progress in efficiency and innovation brought about by the adoption of generative AI.
The ethical impact
As with any discussion about the impact of AI, certain ethical considerations cannot be ignored.
The changing nature of work, the income disparity between roles that can be increased and those that cannot, and the intrinsic need for human-centered services in many professions must all be considered.
Cooks, cleaners and laborers will be less likely to use generative AI to increase their value, while for financial analysts, lawyers and software engineers the opportunities are significant.
This risks exacerbating existing inequalities, and this problem can only be solved by continuing to focus on improving opportunities. This means ensuring that opportunities to access positions that can benefit them are available, regardless of the economic, social, class, race or gender groups that have traditionally created barriers.
It is also essential to ensure that aspects of human behavior that are essential to everyday well-being are not excluded from society. For example, a doctor’s ability to alleviate anxiety through bedside manner is an important part of the healing process. This could be lost if elements of the job that seem routine – such as communicating non-urgent updates on how a patient is recovering – were delegated to AI.
What is becoming clear is that the impact of generative AI on employment will only grow, and over the next couple of years we will begin to get a better sense of the impact it will have on our lives and on our society as we face major challenges. these important challenges.
Right now, from an individual perspective, the most important thing to do is understand how our own roles – or the roles we hope to have in the future – can benefit from this hugely transformative opportunity.