United Kingdom: A report warning that women, younger workers, and those on lower pay are most in danger from automation suggests that there might be a “jobs apocalypse” with the loss of around 8 million jobs in the United Kingdom due to artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), under a “worst-case scenario” for the adoption of new technologies over the next three to five years, entry-level, part-time, and administrative positions are most vulnerable to being replaced by AI.
The think tank cautioned that as more businesses use generative AI technologies, which can read and produce language, data, and software code, to automate routine office duties, the UK was facing a “sliding doors” moment.
The paper said that as more businesses implement the technology, the initial wave of AI adoption is already endangering jobs. But as AI develops quickly, a second wave may result in the automation of additional professions.
The IPPR found that 11 percent of jobs now performed by workers were at danger after analyzing 22,000 tasks in the economy that included every kind of job. However, if technology advance to handle ever-more complicated procedures, this might rise to 59 percent of jobs in the second wave.
It claimed that regular cognitive activities, including as scheduling, database management, and stocktaking, were already in danger of becoming obsolete and might replace entry-level and part-time positions in customer service, administration, and secretarial work.
But non-routine work like database building, copywriting, and graphic design may be impacted by the second wave of AI adoption, which would affect increasingly better paying employment.
According to the IPPR, women would be disproportionately impacted since “they are more likely to work in the most exposed occupations, such as secretarial and administrative occupations.”
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