BERLIN: Not only could around 300 million jobs worldwide be lost to artificial intelligence (AI) over the coming decade, it appears that the technology’s expanding reach and sophistication are affecting how people think – and not necessarily for the best.
Some 6% to 7% of workers around the world face being "displaced" over the coming decade, says investment bank Goldman Sachs. Around 25% "of all work hours" and "work tasks" are potentially exposed to automation in an impact likely to vary across industries.
While people working in tech, management consultancy, call centres and graphic design have seen some work lost to AI, the sectors concerned account for "relatively small parts of the overall job market," Goldman Sachs says in a March report.
Over 40% of tasks or hours in office administration and legal work could be redistributed to AI, the report says. Work in areas such as architecture, life sciences, sales and finance is in line for a potential hit of more than 30%.
The least vulnerable sectors include construction, mining and repair, where the effect is expected to be less than 10% of hours or tasks, according to Goldman and Haver Analytics.
At the same time, the spread of AI will see new jobs created, particularly in areas such as construction, engineering and electrical work. The growing demand for power for AI data centres and related use alone is set to generate half a million jobs in the US by 2030.
Goldman Sachs' assessment of how AI will affect employment comes after a publication by University of Pennsylvania researchers who warn people not only "routinely accept algorithmically generated answers, explanations, and predictions," they could be engaging in a form of "cognitive surrender." This means ingrained thought processes based on human intuition and deliberation are being overridden.
"AI tools are not merely assisting decision-making; they are becoming decisionmakers," the Pennsylvania team says. The development for humans "represents a deeper abdication of critical evaluation, where the user relinquishes cognitive control and adopts the AI's judgment as their own." – dpa
