Is artificial intelligence a job killer? A study surprised

Language models have been conquering the digital world for over two years. Many companies use the freely accessible programs or developed their own applications – and encouraged their employees to use chatbots for their daily work. Shortly after the first voice models arose, the relatives of many professional groups took care of having to cede their core competencies to artificial intelligence (AI) and finally losing their jobs.

However, the effects of AI on the world of work seem to be far less than feared. This is the result of a study recently published by the National Danish Business Institute (National Bureau of Economic Research, Denmark). The economists Anders Humlum from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Emilie Vestergaard from the University of Copenhagen asked 25,000 workers from 7,000 Danish companies how the use of AI had their job and wages. The respondents belonged to eleven professional groups that are particularly affected by AI: accountants, customer service staff, financial advisors, HR specialists, IT support, journalists, lawyers, marketing experts, office workers, software developers and teachers.

The surprising result: With the use of Chatgpt or other language models, the employees only saved three percent of their working hours. The AI ​​hardly had an impact on their income. Due to the time saving, wages only increased between three and seven percent. The concerns of many people to lose their workplace through Chatgpt and Co. are therefore unfounded, interpret their study. A AI would not significantly increase the productivity of companies, nor would develop into a kind of super employee.

For many companies, this is a bitter knowledge. They invest high sums in the technology applications and train their employees intensively in using them. But the desire to save jobs at short notice by taking over a AI does not seem to be true. “Although the introduction (from AI) was quickly carried out and the companies now invest very strongly in the development of the technological potential, the economic effects remain low,” said the two economists in conclusion.

Whether the results can be transferred to other countries still has to be shown-for example, Germany has greater duality in the labor market than Scandinavia: there are more precarious employees, for example in call centers that could be more easily replaced by technology. In the United States, due to the low union density, less resistance to a socially unfair AI use is to be expected than in Europe. Overall, however, the new findings from Denmark indicate that AI in qualified professions currently acts more as a sparring partner and inspiration aid than as a full -digital colleague.

Incidentally, the study would not fundamentally contradict earlier investigations, says Humlum. These assumed much higher savings potential than so far. However, this would have selectively referred to areas in which AI was particularly helpful and would save time, for example in the development of software, the writing of job advertisements or the creation of marketing measures.

Beyond the rather low economic advantages, the use of AI other benefits for companies, proves the study: it makes more creative, improves the quality of work and creates new tasks.

The authors write that many effects are currently still low after the beginning of an unprecedented revolution in the world of work. Because many of the far more extreme forecasts would have based on non -realistic laboratory tests and theories and not on the actual world of work. In the long term, however, the changes could be clearer if companies better adapt and apply the possibilities of AI.