Economist David Autor, however, argued that fears about AI taking jobs are misplaced and that AI could increase workforce productivity, particularly in economies with slowing population growth. He suggested that AI could enable a larger set of workers to perform higher-stakes decision-making tasks currently reserved for experts. Despite these differing views, the tech industry continues to develop AI technology, with Microsoft integrating Copilot throughout its product lineup and OpenAI unveiling its latest multi-modal machine learning model, GPT-4o.
Key takeaways:
- IMF managing director Dr Kristalina Georgieva warned of a 'tsunami' hitting the global labor market due to the adoption of AI technologies, potentially impacting almost half of jobs worldwide and over half of jobs in advanced economies.
- Georgieva emphasized the need for businesses and populations to prepare for this shift, which could lead to increased productivity but also greater misinformation and societal inequality.
- Economist David Autor argued that fears about AI taking jobs are misplaced and that AI could actually increase workforce productivity, particularly in economies with slowing population growth.
- According to the IMF, about half of the 60 percent of advanced economy jobs touched by AI technology could benefit, while the other half could be eliminated entirely.