Generative artificial intelligence will probably not take over most jobs but will instead automate a portion of the duties while freeing them up to do other required tasks, said a UN study.
However, it warned that clerical work would likely hit the hardest, potentially hitting female employment the most as there was an over-representation by women in this sector especially in wealthier first-world countries.
As the interest for generative Artificial Intelligence and its chatbot boomed, there is a fear over job destruction which is similar to those that emerged after the creation of moving assembly lines in the early 1900s and after mainframe computers in the 1950s.
The study by the International Labour Organisation concluded that “Most jobs and industries are only partially exposed to automation and are more likely to be complemented rather than be fully substituted by AI.”
This means that “the most important impact of AI is likely to be supplementing work”, it says.
The occupation that is likely to be most affected by GenAI that are capable of generating text, images, sounds, animation and other data is clerical work where most of the tasks are highly exposed to potential automation.
Other professions such as managers and sales workers are only hardly exposed.
Still, the UN agency’s report warned that the impact of generative AI of affected workers could still be “brutal”.
Therefore, policymakers should not read the report as a calming voice but rather as a call for harnessing proper policies in order to address the technological changes that will come upon us.
