Amidst the rapidly growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), concerns about jobs are also on the rise. Many big names in the tech industry believe that AI could affect a large number of jobs in the coming years. At the same time, economists say AI won’t directly mean job destruction. He argues that technology can change the way work is done and create many new jobs.

Research from the London School of Economics reviewed 74 studies related to AI and employment. Of these, estimates of the potential impact on employment ranged from minus 20% to plus 25%. This makes it clear that there is no fixed figure of how many jobs will be lost due to AI.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could eliminate nearly half of entry-level white-collar jobs by 2030. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also said that if governments do not make the right policies, the number of jobs may decrease significantly in the next decade.

However, economists call for more caution regarding these claims. He says that large-scale job loss due to automation has been talked about many times before, but it has not proved to be true. A famous 2013 study even estimated that nearly half of America’s jobs could be gone within a decade, but that hasn’t happened. According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Christopher Pissarides, most predictions about job losses due to technology have been proven wrong.

Many types of work in one job

The most important argument of the economist is that work and job are not the same thing. There are many types of tasks in a job. AI may automate some of these tasks, but that doesn’t mean the entire task will disappear.

For example, AI may analyze data or prepare a presentation for a consultant, but communicating with clients, persuading people, and implementing any suggestions on the ground may still be a human role. So, if AI can do 50% of a job, it doesn’t mean that 50% of those jobs will disappear.

There is no evidence yet of mass job losses

In a survey of 8,000 employers in 13 OECD countries, only 1 out of every 10 companies using AI talked about downsizing. At the same time, only 1% of companies said AI was the main reason for job cuts. That is, currently the impact of mass unemployment due to AI is not evident in the total employment figures.

However, there are certainly concerns for younger employees. Entry-level hiring in tech-related fields has slowed in many countries. One reason for this may be that with the help of AI, senior employees are able to do more work and even take over routine tasks that were previously assigned to junior employees, but economists refrain from holding AI entirely responsible for this.

AI can also create new jobs

AI may reduce demand for some jobs, but it may also create new jobs and new markets. AI data centers need engineers. With affordable legal services, more people can avail the services of lawyers. Likewise, as incomes and productivity in the economy increase, demand may increase in areas such as healthcare and education.

So, the big question is not just how many jobs AI will eliminate, but who will benefit economically from AI. AI may increase the earnings of more skilled workers, but it may also put pressure on the wages of those performing routine tasks. This threatens to widen the gap between rich and low-income workers. For this reason, instead of waiting for mass unemployment, economists are focusing on creating policies so that the benefits of increased productivity and earnings from AI reach more people.

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