Stijn Broecke
Senior Economist, OECD
Advancements in AI are helping to rapidly streamline, automate and ease many aspects of our daily lives. In the world of work, it is an opportunity for businesses to grow, but where does this leave employees?
A smart speaker can answer your questions, video streaming technology is able to give you movie recommendations and your phone can suggest words when you are texting. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already made its way into various aspects of our lives.
AI is also being deployed in the workplace in many different ways, such as chatbots to help answer HR questions, tools to assist with medical diagnosis or even fitness-tracking wearables to measure employee stress levels.
The fear of automation
As with previous technological revolutions, AI raises fears about automation and job loss. AI is likely to affect every single occupation, in every sector of the economy.
A difference between AI and previous technologies is that it is capable of doing non-routine, cognitive tasks. In other words, it is no longer just the manual tasks of workers that can be automated, but also the tasks of high-skilled workers, such as lawyers, doctors and managers.
To date, there is no evidence that AI has resulted in job loss overall. On the contrary, in occupations where computer use is high, greater exposure to AI appears to be associated with greater employment growth. This suggests that AI may complement rather than substitute workers that have the skills to work with AI.
It is no longer just the manual tasks of workers that can be automated, but also the tasks of high-skilled workers.
The real challenge of AI
AI’s biggest challenge is unlikely to be the threat it poses to the number of jobs, but rather how it will affect workers in their current jobs, or when they apply for new jobs.
Lawmakers across the world are reviewing existing laws and regulations to make sure they are up-to-date with no loopholes. To also be able to promote trustworthy AI, there are a few key issues that need to be resolved, such as:
- Making sure that workers are informed and can give consent when AI collects and uses their data.
- Reducing the risk of bias creeping into the algorithm and, when it does, placing accountability where it is due.
- Guaranteeing a human is in the loop and that individuals have the right to an explanation.
Attention should also be given to the working conditions of workers who train AI by labelling and tagging data, or who are engaged in the maintenance of AI. Some of these workers are gig workers and many are based in low and middle-income countries.