According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) might influence nearly 40% of jobs worldwide, a trend that is likely to increase inequality. The managing director of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, wrote a blog post on Sunday in which she advised countries to prepare for the impact of artificial intelligence by developing social safety nets and retraining programs.
The IMF’s new AI preparedness index with a breakdown by country shows wealthier economies, including advanced and some emerging market economies, are better equipped for its adoption than low-income countries. More in @KGeorgieva’s blog. https://t.co/LMpupRBcBt pic.twitter.com/q5qLJ9y1g9
— IMF (@IMFNews) January 14, 2024
She wrote this ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, where the topic is expected to be hot: “In most scenarios, AI will likely worsen overall inequality, a troubling trend that policymakers must address proactively to prevent the technology from further stoking social tensions.” According to Georgieva, as more individuals and businesses adopt AI, it is projected to simultaneously benefit and harm the human workforce.
The AI era is upon us & it's still within our power to ensure it brings prosperity for all. At #wef24, I'll share new IMF staff research on the potential impact of AI on the global economy & why we need policies to protect people & maintain social cohesion https://t.co/nx4obf0HKQ pic.twitter.com/0485MQ6HIx
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) January 15, 2024
In line with previous concerns voiced by other scholars, Georgieva predicted that developed nations will experience the impacts more severely than developing ones. This is due, in particular, to the widespread belief that white-collar professionals are more susceptible to harm than their manual labor counterparts.
For example, AI might affect up to 60% of occupations in more developed economies. According to her, around half of them may profit from how AI encourages increased efficiency.
In light of IMF research, she further claimed that AI applications have the potential to undertake important jobs presently done by humans, resulting in decreased demand for labor, which might lead to lower pay and fewer hiring. In the most severe instances, specific jobs may become extinct.
AI is anticipated to affect 40% and 26% of occupations in developing markets and low-income countries, respectively. Countries like India and Brazil are considered emerging markets because of their consistently expanding economies, but Burundi and Sierra Leone are examples of low-income countries since their economies are rising, but their per capita income is below a certain level.
Georgieva showed concern about developing countries as a large percentage of these nations lack the necessary infrastructure or skilled workers to effectively utilize the advantages of AI, thereby increasing the likelihood that, over time, this technology might increase inequality,
AI has captivated the world. New IMF research & our new Preparedness Index shows it will affect almost 40% of jobs around the world, replacing some & complementing others. My blog on why we must have a careful balance of policies to tap its potential. https://t.co/5uIXxWd4bu pic.twitter.com/cZMGciz7s0
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) January 14, 2024
She warned that using artificial intelligence (AI) could increase the risk of social friction, particularly if young, inexperienced staff took use of the technology to assist them in enhancing their output while other senior workers struggled to keep up.
While ChatGPT went viral last year, artificial intelligence (AI) was a major topic at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Discussions on how the chatbot sensation—driven by generative AI—could revolutionize people’s work processes worldwide were sparked by its ability to generate articles, speeches, poetry, and more.
There has been a meteoric rise in the use of artificial intelligence chatbots and systems since then, thanks to technological developments that have led to increasing investment in the field. There have been reports of tech corporations reevaluating their hiring levels, with some mentioning AI as the reason.
Economists at Goldman Sachs predicted in March 2023 that, despite some disruption to the workplace, the broad use of AI had the potential to increase worker productivity and boost global GDP by 7% per year over a decade.
In her blog article, Georgieva also discussed the potential for AI to enhance global production and boost incomes. She said that Artificial intelligence will revolutionize the worldwide economy and expressed her concern that we should ensure that it benefits humanity.
