In March, Goldman Sachs published a report showing that AI could take up up 300 million full-time human jobs.
Last year, PricewaterhouseCoopers' annual Global Workforce Survey (PwC's) showed that nearly a third of respondents said they were worried about the prospect of cutting out technology within three years.
But is this concern really justified? Will technology replace us and steal our jobs? And what should employees do to keep their jobs in the age of "artificial intelligence"?
Despite the benefits of artificial intelligence, such as making cognitive work easier, these new tools have downsides (Shutterstock).
Horror hits employees in the world
Despite the great development in the field of "generative artificial intelligence", a growing number of employees from around the world are terrified and afraid that they will be laid off and replaced with machines and robots to get their work done.
Among those employees who are worried and afraid of the future is 34-year-old British woman, who preferred not to give her last name to protect her job security, the BBC recently reported.
Claire has worked in public relations at a major consulting firm in London for 6 years, and she earns a comfortable salary from the company where she works, but in the past six months she has started to worry about the future of her career, and the reason is only two words: "artificial intelligence."
"I don't think the quality of the work I'm producing can be matched by any machine in the world yet. But at the same time, I'm amazed at how quickly ChatGPT has become so sophisticated. Give it just a few more years, and I can imagine a world where a robot does my work as well as I do. I hate to think about what that might mean for my future career."
Claire supports this fear of Alice Marshall, a 29-year-old Bristol based copywriter: "I think a lot of creators are worried ... We all hope that our customers will recognize our value, and choose authenticity over the low price and convenience offered by AI tools."
The best way to deal with AI is to learn to use it to become an ally rather than treat it as an enemy to fight (Shutterstock)
The greatest danger occurred just a few months ago.
Generative AI has been around for nearly a decade, and the bright and dark sides of AI have been in the spotlight over the years. During that period, there were many developments in which this type of intelligence was protagonist, such as facial recognition techniques, deepfakes, image analysis, and judgment.
All this happened and existed, but the most important and largest development took place during the recent period with the emergence of a powerful artificial intelligence program last year, a program that not only learns from huge amounts of data, but is able to create, innovate and write convincingly, in addition to conducting attractive personal conversations with users, very close to the human spirit, as well as tremendous capabilities to reproduce and produce human images and sounds, including celebrity voices, and other capabilities, according to the platform. MSN recently.
This has panicked many people, especially employees, and the old question returns: Will machines take over our jobs? Inside this question is another implicit question: Will machines take over our lives and future as humans?
Lynn Parker, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee, said: "Despite the significant benefits of generative AI, such as making creativity and cognitive work easier, these new tools also have downsides, as they can erode ancient human skills such as writing. It also raises other important issues, such as the protection of intellectual property rights, because these models of artificial intelligence are trained in human creations."
Artificial intelligence threatens many jobs, especially those in the technology, graphic design and media industries (Pixaby)
Will AI really take our jobs?
In October 2020, the World Economic Forum predicted that AI would take away about 85 million jobs from humans, acknowledging that automation in the workforce is increasing at a faster rate than previously anticipated.
Now, in 2023, the World Economic Forum's predictions proved correct, AI has already threatened a plethora and variety of jobs and professions across industries and sectors.
Just over the past few months, Buzzfeed has announced that it will use AI technology to create content, while Netflix Japan has already produced an animated film entirely using artificial intelligence, according to Vice.
In a recent report published by Insider, experts said that ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence technologies could threaten many jobs, especially those of the "white collar".
The list included jobs from the technology and finance industries, graphic design, journalism and media. Currently, it is uncertain what functions are safe from AI in the future.
According to the same report by the World Economic Forum, this wave of artificial intelligence technology is expected to create about 97 million new jobs, more than it took, so that innovation and adaptability will be among the most valuable skills of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
There have also been many cases highlighting the inaccuracy and susceptibility to error of AI.
In a recent experiment, the University of Minnesota School of Law tested the GPT chat program in exams, and Dr. John Choi noted that although the robot can read rules and legal issues, it failed to provide deep analytical thinking.
Employees need to focus on developing their skills rather than panic about the prospect of losing their jobs to machines (Shutterstock)
Develop skills instead of panic
HR experts say that while some anxiety is warranted, employees need to focus on what they can actually control: develop their skills rather than panic about the prospect of losing their jobs to machines.
Therefore, employees in different professions and sectors must learn how to work alongside technology. If they can do that, and use technology as a source of development, and don't see it as a threat, they will make themselves more valuable to employers."
An ally, not an enemy
Simply put, the artificial intelligence revolution has risen to stay, and this intelligence will develop more and more in the near future, in light of the huge financial investments that are being injected into it by major global technology companies.
For example, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, received a staggering $10 billion investment from Microsoft, which the company said would "allow us to continue our independent research and develop increasingly secure, useful and robust AI."
On this basis, the repercussions of this revolution on the labor market and other sectors will increase and continue, and significantly, in the near future.
At this point, the best way to deal with anxiety about AI is to develop our skills and capabilities, and learn how to use AI, so that it becomes an ally in our work, rather than treating it as an enemy to be fought.