“My hypothesis is that older employees have seen this story before,” says Indeed’s head of AI. Secret Agent Mike — Getty Images
Despite being the most digitally savvy working generation ever, Gen Z employees are probably more likely to use artificial intelligence than older (and perhaps less technologically advanced) baby boomers. You may be afraid of losing your job.
At least, according to Indeed’s head of AI, there’s data to back that up.
The world-renowned recruitment agency surveyed over 3,500 leaders and 3,743 job seekers across the UK, US, Canada, India, France, Japan and Germany and found that 4% of all job seekers of respondents are concerned about the impact of AI in the workplace. For respondents between the ages of 18 and 24, this percentage jumps to more than 30%.
In comparison, the proportion of people over 45 who experience fear drops to less than 15%.
“My hypothesis is that older workers have seen this story before. They lived through the rise of the PC, and they lived through the rise of the Internet,” says Hannah, Head of AI Innovation at Indeed.・Calhoun speaks luck.
Let’s put ourselves in Gen Z’s shoes. He entered the job market with hopes for his future career, only to be told by investment bank Goldman Sachs and others that AI could replace his full-time workforce of 300 million people. Please try to imagine. Jobs will increase around the world in the coming years.
No wonder the newest generation of workers (the oldest being 27) feel threatened.
Another study conducted by student essay writing website EduBirdie found that 3 in 5 Gen Zers are worried that they will lose their jobs within 10 years due to AI, and 10% are worried that they will lose their jobs sooner rather than later. I think it could happen again this year.
But for experienced workers who have weathered past workplace disruptions, things will eventually work out for them, regardless of whether their jobs are listed as those most at risk of being taken over by AI. I know that.
“They understand that with these large-scale technology transformations, there will be changes, but while those changes may result in job displacement and changes in job descriptions, they can adapt.” I understand that,” Calhoun added. “Young workers have never experienced this before. It’s a little scary because it’s new and uncertain.”
Remember: Computers used to be scary.
As much as the AI craze we’re witnessing today, workers of a certain age may remember the palpable fear when computers first arrived on the scene in the 1980s.
“These include the fear of physically touching a computer or damaging it and its internals, the reluctance to read or talk about computers, and the fear of people who know anything about computers. This can take the form of feeling threatened, feeling that you are being replaced by someone else, whether you are becoming a slave to the machine or becoming aggressive towards it. It is explained in detail in the 1996 book Women and Computers.
Today, these concerns seem completely unreasonable, but they serve as a reminder that our worst fears about technology rarely come true.
Since the explosion of PCs (and the internet, cloud, social media, etc.), most professions have undergone a digital rebranding.
Copywriters now use laptops instead of typewriters. Designers rely on Adobe Photoshop instead of paper and pen. In the process, numerous IT roles were created.
This same principle can be applied to AI.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna predicts “repetitive white-collar jobs” will be the first to disappear thanks to AI, despite pausing hiring for replaceable roles even say the technology will create far more jobs than it eliminates.
“People misunderstand productivity as job loss,” he said in a speech. Fortune CEO Initiative meeting. “In 1995, no one thought there would be 5 million web designers. There are.”
Younger recruits would be better off understanding large language models instead of being afraid of ChatGPT and its brethren. Because if history has shown us anything, one day people will no longer be able to imagine their jobs without it.
“The best thing to do is to actually use this technology and start understanding how it can help you and apply it to your own life,” Calhoun says.
“Let’s put technology to the test and see if there’s a way to do our jobs more effectively and efficiently.”
