Workers at risk of AI radically changing their jobs aren't too worried about it
– A Pew Research Center analysis suggests that AI could significantly impact jobs, industries, and workers.
– Jobs with higher exposure to AI are those where AI can either fully perform crucial activities or assist in performing them.
– Not all workers in high-exposure industries are worried about the risks of AI outweighing its benefits in the long term.
– The analysis considered activities from O*NET to determine the level of exposure to AI in different jobs.
– Activities such as data analysis and creative thinking are considered to have high exposure to AI.
– Web developers and budget analysts are examples of jobs with high exposure, while childcare workers and firefighters have low exposure.
– Nearly a quarter of US workers were in jobs with the least exposure to AI in 2022.
– In the same year, over 27 million Americans worked in jobs most exposed to AI, with more women than men in such roles, partly due to men being in more physically demanding jobs like construction.
– Pew Research Center used data from the 2022 Current Population Survey and a survey of US adults to obtain results for the analysis.
Interestingly, workers with higher exposure to AI seem to be less concerned about AI's impact on them personally
– suggesting they may be more familiar with AI's potential positives and negatives.
– Workers in information and technology, an industry highly exposed to AI, showed mixed opinions about AI's impact on their jobs.
– Generative AI systems pose a challenge as they generate multiple possibilities from a single prompt, and understanding their decision-making process remains difficult.
– Despite AI's potential impact on jobs, some workers have found AI tools like ChatGPT helpful in boosting productivity and efficiency.
– While Pew's report doesn't specify which jobs may be lost due to AI, other sources, such as OpenAI's CEO, predict that some roles will indeed disappear.