Generative AI's biggest impact could be felt in banking and tech

A new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to turn old assumptions about technology on their head.

-  STEVE LOHR

For years, people working in warehouses or fast food restaurants worried that automation could eliminate their jobs. But new research suggests that generative AI-the kind used in chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT-will have its biggest impact on white-collar workers with high-paying jobs in industries like banking and tech. A report published on Thursday by the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit research center, and SHRM, formerly the Society for Human Resource Management, stops short of saying the technology will do away with large numbers of jobs. But it makes clear that workers need to better prepare for a future in which AI could play asignificant role in many workplaces that until now have been largely untouched by technological disruption. For people in tech, it means they may be building their AI replacements. "There's no question the workers who will be impacted most are those with college degrees, and those are the people who always thought they were safe," said Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Gl