AI infiltrates workplace: How everything from hiring process to staffing demands changed this year

 Most employees believe artificial intelligence will eventually replace them in the workplace

Mainstream attention to artificial intelligence (AI) has brought justified fears about the impact of even more widespread forms of automation in the workplace and the threat it poses to jobs.

The public engagement with ChatGPT caught people's imagination, but when users found it strange that an email written by an AI program seemed to be written by a human, they began to wonder how the AI would interact with a human worker in another office. What tasks can it take?

The demand for AI-focused employees also increased as every company began to look at how they could integrate AI technology into their operations.

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The promise of AI will bring with it massive career changes, just as general automation displaced many blue-collar jobs in the 1970s and 1980s. According to experts, what labor machines did for blue-collar jobs, AI will do for white-collar jobs.

A survey by market research firm Censuswide found that 50% of mid-level office professionals already use some form of AI to perform tasks. What starts out as improvements in workplace efficiency may soon give way to job cuts.

"Although industry proponents like to claim that AI will create vast numbers of jobs, this is largely wishful thinking," Christopher Alexander, chief analytics officer at Pioneer Development Group, told Fox News Digital. “If the type of AI envisioned for the near future will not replace workers, there will be no point for a company to implement it.”

A survey by market research firm Censuswide found that 50% of mid-level office professionals already use some form of AI to perform tasks. What starts out as improvements in workplace efficiency may soon give way to job cuts. (iStock/iStock)

"In the short term, it's possible that many companies will simply reduce hiring as AI enhancements increase employee productivity," Alexander said.

A Bentley-Gallup Business in Society study in September found that while 75% of American adults expect AI to shrink the job pool, only 6% believe the technology could actually help boost jobs in the US. And about 19% believe that jobs will be unaffected.

According to some experts, jobs may not feel the pressure immediately, but workers may find that their wages are affected first.

In November the European Central Bank (ECB) determined that the use of AI was more likely to have a "neutral or negative impact" on pay because an employee would discover that they are underpaid long before the company eliminates it entirely. The workload had reduced.

According to Phil Siegel, founder of the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threats, workers can mitigate short-term job losses by mastering new AI tools, improving efficiency and productivity, and educating themselves on the next wave of technological innovation that will come after AI. can do. Reaction simulation.

Companies have reported high demand for AI-related jobs, with some listing vacancies for positions with salaries of around $900,000, such as a data scientist job in Los Angeles. California leads the way in terms of AI-related job openings, with Texas and New York close behind.

Californians also have the most interest in AI, with more than 20 million searches for AI software over the past 12 months. GoTo reported that more than half of Californians are regularly searching online for AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Google's Bard, with 51.9% AI users per 100 people.

Other machine learning-related job postings in Los Gatos, California have a similar overall market range of $100,000 to $700,000 or $449,000 to $842,000.

In addition to the impact on job availability and salary pressures, job seekers will need to encounter AI at some point, as some companies have discussed using AI as part of the hiring process.

The Resume Builder survey found that 10% of companies currently use AI interviewing for potential employees, while 43% of companies plan to use the technology in their recruiting process by next year. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they expect AI to eventually replace humans in the hiring process.

How companies plan to use AI in this process is still unclear, with 80% saying they are most likely to use the technology to screen qualified candidates and only 15% considering AI one-way. Will allow to take decisions.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna estimates that many jobs will be cut due to AI in the next five years. (iStock/iStock)

"Most managers in our survey agree that this will likely eliminate candidates that no human or ATS can use in an effort to speed up the hiring process," Stacy Haller, chief career advisor at Resume Builder, told Fox Business. Could." ,

He said, "Only time will tell whether this truly accomplished the ultimate goal of hiring the best candidates for the position or weeded out great candidates and promoted more unqualified candidates, resulting in turnover."

AI in the workforce came sharply into focus in one of the most surprising labor disputes ever: a strike by Hollywood writers and actors that fought against the apparent inevitability of AI in their workplaces, with mixed results.

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The strike, which lasted 148 days for writers and 118 days for actors, was against measures that would allow studios to use AI to produce scripts for television and films or to recreate the likeness of actors for various projects. were allowed to be used, which would reduce both. Costs at different levels of production.

Studios have already moved forward with significant increases in AI expert staffing, with companies like Netflix looking to use machine learning to "increase the leverage" of the platform across the company.

One notable AI and machine-learning listing on Disney's career website is for a senior vice president role related to postproduction and innovation for Disney branded television, which creates content for kids and families.

The results, which include some concessions to the introduction of AI and its growing use both in the writing room and on set, suggest that AI will find its way into every industry and it is only a matter of time.