Robots don’t scare us! At least, that’s how the majority of workers feel, as a new study found that most employees aren’t really worried about generative AI technology like ChatGPT taking their job.
Since launching in November 2022, ChatGPT and its many alternatives have made a big impact on the business world. From coding to responding to emails, the technology has been integrated into a wide range of business operations to save time and money.
Luckily, employees don’t seem too worried about the prospect of generative AI taking their jobs. But should they be?
Study: Most Employees Don’t Think Their Job Is at Risk from AI
A new survey from Workhuman, titled the Human Workplace Index, found that 58.4% of employees aren’t worried about AI taking their job. Additionally, 21.2% said they weren’t sure if their jobs were at risk.
This means that only 20.4% of respondents believe that their job is at risk due to generative AI technology, a surprisingly high number given the transformative nature of platforms like ChatGPT.
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Employees do seem to be aware that it will have some impact, even if their jobs aren’t at risk, according to them. 41% believe that the use of generative AI tech will become part of workplace training and 34.4% believe that the use will be generally encouraged at businesses around the world.
Fear of AI Is Varied
Still, there are obviously some employees that are concerned about the risk of AI taking their job, but they aren’t worried for the same reasons.
In fact, the survey found that 55.4% of concerned employees believe that AI will outright replace their jobs, while 41.7% believe AI will make their industry or role more competitive and 30.4% believe generative AI is generally decreasing the value of their work.
The real question remains, though: Are they right to be worried or is the fear of AI overblown?
Will Employees Lose Their Jobs to AI?
There’s no sugarcoating it, employees are going to lose their jobs when it comes to generative AI. In fact, some experts have put the numbers at nearly 80% of jobs being significantly impacted by the technology in the near future.
Heck, even the founder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has been quoted waxing poetic about the potential impacts of generative AI technology on the workplace.
“A lot of people working on AI pretend that it’s only going to be good; it’s only going to be a supplement; no one is ever going to be replaced. Jobs are definitely going to go away, full stop.” – Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI in an interview
Suffice to say, the impacts of generative AI are going to get more and more substantial as time goes on. Let’s just hope all these worry-free employees are right when it comes to the security of their positions.
