AI Will Not Replace You at Your Job but Rather Transform How You Operate: UN Study

OpenAI presented ChatGPT to the globe in November 2022, sparking an AI revolution. Gradually, more organisations developed their own AI tools, and although some believed that these tools would assist humans in their tasks, others were concerned about the negative repercussions. Many individuals felt that AI would replace them in their employment, and IT gurus like Elon Musk warned of the dangers of the coming technology. 

Is AI taking over human jobs?

However, according to recent research by the United Nations' International Labour Organisation (ILO), while AI will revolutionise our work, it will not replace humans in their employment.  According to an AFP investigation, most occupations and sectors will only be 'somewhat vulnerable to automation.'

According to the ILO, most businesses are "more likely to be complemented rather than substituted by the latest wave of Generative AI, such as ChatGPT." 

"As a result, the greatest impact of this technology is likely to be not job destruction, but rather potential changes in job quality, particularly work intensity and autonomy," the report concludes. 

According to the report, the consequences of developing technologies would differ among occupations and countries. It goes on to say that women are more likely than males to have their careers disrupted. 

Sam Altman on job automation

Concerns about job security and the impact of automation are rising in an era when artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries and how people work. During a recent visit to India, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed similar concerns, focusing on meta-skills as a necessary talent for managing the developing world of AI and "AI-proofing" one's employment.

Altman answered questions from the audience at IIIT Delhi on AI, ChatGPT, and the future of work. One guest raised the topic of how to preserve one's job from the rise of AI and the automation that comes with it. Altman's comment was succinct but profound: the remedy is to build meta-skills.

In an AI-driven landscape, meta-skills, or transferrable or soft skills, are the cornerstone for professional success. These talents extend beyond technical competence in a single topic to include abilities relevant across sectors and job activities. Critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, flexibility, creativity, leadership, emotional intelligence, and other skills are among them.

While AI may automate certain jobs and processes, it cannot mimic the distinctively human capabilities contained by meta-skills, according to Altman. These abilities are essential for complicated decision-making, innovative problem-solving, and effective communication, all of which are areas in which human intelligence shines. Individuals may position themselves for long-term professional success and resilience in the face of technology changes by mastering meta-skills.

According to Altman, people need time to come to grips with the concept that a robust new intelligence may live with humans in the future, and ChatGPT was a "way of serving notice."