Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Americans believe that the implementation of artificial intelligence in the workplace will have a "significant impact" on American workers within the next 20 years, leaving many workers feeling "alarmed" and "concerned" about their future ".
An April 20 report by the Pew Research Center found that 56 percent of 11,004 adults surveyed in the United States said artificial intelligence would also have a significant impact on the U.S. economy. Another 22 percent believe AI will have a lesser impact on the economy. Only 13 percent of participants believed that "artificial intelligence will help more than harm American workers," while 32 percent held the opposite view. The remaining participants predicted that “artificial intelligence will help as well as hurt” U.S. workers (32%) or were unsure (22%).
The study did not directly ask participants whether they thought they would lose their jobs to AI, but many respondents expressed concern that AI-enabled workplaces would lead to increased surveillance, poor data management and misinterpretation. The Pew Research Center said there was a "consensus" that many American workers felt they would be viewed in the same way as Big Brother, with 81% expressing concern.
A majority of respondents (71%) said they were opposed to the use of artificial intelligence in the hiring process to help make final decisions. Nearly two-thirds said they were most annoyed by AI tracking their minute-by-minute movements, and about half cited AI tracking how many hours they spent at their desks and keeping an accurate record of what they were doing. The frustration is there. Fewer than 40 percent expressed concern that AI would be used to assess their performance.
While views on what AI will offer the workforce are divided, two-thirds of respondents said they would not want to apply for jobs that use AI to make hiring decisions. A respondent in his 60s explained that AI should not be used for this purpose because it cannot judge personality:
"AI fails to take into account the unquantifiable intangible factors that make someone a good colleague. or a bad colleague. Personality traits such as patience, compassion and kindness are overlooked or undervalued." "It's a 'garbage in, garbage out' problem," explained another woman surveyed.
Not everyone agrees, though, as one man in his 50s explained AI's potential to fill the hiring manager's void: "I think AI will be able to evaluate all my skills and experience across the board, whereas a human might only focus on what is needed for the job. AI will go beyond the present and see my potential over time." Less than half of the participants said AI would treat all job applicants "better" in the same way as hiring managers, while 15 percent said it would be "worse." Less than 15 percent said the treatments were "about the same".
Respondents who claimed AI would lead to “better” treatment explained that the technology would help circumvent prejudice and discrimination based on age, gender and race.
Others think AI could reinforce the very biases companies are trying to root out. The research was motivated in part by what Pew Research Center describes as the “rapid rise of ChatGPT” the AI chatbot that OpenAI released on Nov. 30.
