Written by Aggie Warren

♬ AI will always love you ♬ Why you don’t need to worry about AI taking your job

18th November, 2024   •  

Do you feel worried about AI?

What about with relation to your job?

If you do, then you are not alone.

ADP Research Institute surveyed 35,000 people across 18 different countries, and found that 42% of people believe that AI is a threat to their jobs.

And this is not surprising.

By 2025, the World Economic Forum predicts that 85 million existing jobs could be displaced by AI. 

BUT… it’s not all doom and gloom.

That same report also predicted that 97 million new jobs may emerge in industries more suited to AI integration. 

So do we really need to worry?

It’s important to caveat that people with lower education attainment are most at risk of losing their jobs and therefore, tend to have higher anxieties and fears around AI and the automation of their roles.

However, when we look at the bigger picture, we see that these kinds of concerns have been repeated throughout history, and consistently the worker displacement from automation has been offset by new (and often more varied) jobs.

For example, when ATMs were introduced in the 1970s, it was expected that this would lead to widespread job losses among bank tellers.

Instead, bank teller jobs continued to increase.

This is because ATMs allowed banks to open more branches, and tellers could focus more on customer service and complex transactions.

This was better for the tellers who needed to spend less time doing mundane tasks and had more time for people-focussed tasks (if this was their preference). And it was better for the consumer – it was quicker and easier to get cash out and more bank tellers were available when you had a bigger problem. 

Automation has repeatedly freed up time and allowed for more creative and interesting roles, with higher job satisfaction, to arise.

So how can we overcome these fears that have repeated throughout history, and use AI to our benefit?

The first thing to do is

Flip the mindset.

Think of AI as a new coworker – get it to do those mundane repetitive tasks where you don’t need to think much.

Healthcare, for example, is now using AI to help with diagnostics, so that doctors can focus on the more human side of their role.

With customer services, AI is now used for handling simple queries freeing up human time for more complex customer needs. 

This new ‘coworker’ is also great for wellbeing – decreasing stress and burnout from those tedious and time-consuming tasks. 

In fact, a survey of workers in the UK, US, Germany and Australia found that 71% believe AI will increase job satisfaction, already reporting more fulfilment at work with the integration of AI into daily tasks.

Additionally, AI boosts productivity and creativity.

There is a wealth of research to support this. One such study conducted by Nielson Norman Group found that the output of three groups of workers increased when they had the assistance of AI. 

What this means is that we have a lot more time to be creative: we’re doing less of the non-creative unnecessary tasks that we can delegate to AI, and we’re doing the non-creative necessary tasks much more efficiently, leaving more time in our day for creativity. 

Ask yourself where you can use AI to your benefit. There are plenty of ways that AI can and has improved lives and it may be a simple question of finding out what this means for you.

The second thing we want to do is

Develop human skills

‘Work that requires building relationships, helping each other, and having empathy, is more likely to survive than simply typing into a box in a solitary way.’

Kevin Roose, New York Times technology writer

AI cannot (so far) replicate these things.

For example, AI is not very funny…

And its not very empathetic…

We are not going to be able to beat AI at the things that it does well, but we do have access to a whole skill set that it doesn’t, including  social skills such as self-awareness, public speaking, curiosity, empathy, problem solving, ethical reasoning, leadership and experimentation.

What could you be doing to enhance these human skills?

Some examples could include to:

• Play team sport to improve social skills and communication
• Try new hobbies to increase curiosity and experimentation
• Give a speech at your best friend’s wedding, or put yourself forward to lead on a client pitch, to improve public speaking
• Volunteer to improve empathy and collaboration

Key takeaways?

Fears about AI (and automation) are not uncommon, and have been repeated throughout history… But we can learn from this.

So far, worker displacement from automation has been offset by new (and arguably more diverse, less mundane, more enjoyable) jobs.

So how do we tackle these fears and use AI to our benefit?

1. Flip the mindset – AI frees up our time from mundane tasks, boosting productivity, creativity and job satisfaction
2. Focus on, treasure, and develop our human skills using frequent activities both in and out of work to become more social, more self-aware and more empathetic

At Higson, we run workshops and training programmes to help increase emotional intelligence, build resilience and shift mindsets. If you are interested in hearing more, get in touch!