Relax, AI isn't coming for your job after all... probably

Anxiety about Al among working-age adults, especially zoomers, who are at the sharp end of this tech revolution, is quite high.

- JAMES MOORE

Nearly two-thirds of young adults fear AI will take their jobs.

However, the study says: “Overall, our metrics indicate that the broader labour market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT’s release 33 months ago, undercutting fears that AI automation is currently eroding the demand for cognitive labour across the economy.”

And there’s more: “Historically, widespread technological disruption in workplaces tends to occur over decades, rather than months or years.”

So maybe start to fret in a few years’ time — but not now.

The researchers based their conclusions on an analysis of official US labour market data and on figures concerning the use of and exposure to AI from the tech industry. They found scant signs in these sources that it is shoving people out of work.

Changes in the occupational mix of roles since generative Al’s advent in 2022 only “seem to mirror the trends” seen during previous tech-driven revolutions, such as the advent of the internet, while recent changes “appear to be on a path only about one percentage point higher than it was at the turn of the 21st century”, when we all started opening up browser windows as soon as the first coffee was downed.