How is Artificial Intelligence changing individual’s areas of work?
As mentioned in my last post, the workplace is constantly changing and being innovated through the use of A.I, and the influence of work on our lives is rather significant. To get a better understanding of how Artificial Intelligence is effecting the workplace I surveyed individuals from various career types to get their opinion on how A.I has changed their line(s) of work.
I started off my survey with a general question of “Have you experienced the use of A.I in your workplace in the past 5 years?”, the purpose of this question was to establish a study group that was applicable to the subject at hand. Fifty percent of the surveyed individuals responded “Yes” to the first question, those who answered “No” were asked to respond “N/A” to any follow up questions, unless specified otherwise. I immediately followed up the first survey question with “If so, how has A.I influenced or changed your line of work within the last 5 years? What was implemented into your workplace that used A.I?”. The majority of the applicable answers for this question stated that A.I assisted in their daily jobs in various ways, from restaurants that use PO systems, to the translation of of languages. However when I asked “If A.I was implemented into your workplace, describe the changes that came with it’s addition. Did it make your job easier or harder? If nonapplicable, please write N/A.”, not all of the responses were positive. For example, one response stated that the use of Artificial Intelligence made the hiring process and flow of business much smoother. But when asked if it made their job easier or harder they responded, “Much easier, there’s less stress on employees, but when the AI fails or is out of service, it makes more stress on employees with the added work on us”. Additionally, the restaurant manager who responded about using a PO system to place orders said that the PO system made everything “easier, but there were some systematic problems sometimes.”. As seen by these responses Artificial Intelligence has the potential to increase workplace efficiency, however the dependency on it can create problems when it fails.
My next question in my survey asked “Has A.I had an effect on the job growth in any of your fields of work in the last 5 years? If not, please choose N/A.”. Out of all of the responses on 12.5% saw an increase in job growth, 0% saw a decrease ion job growth, and the remaining 87.5% were nonapplicable. This shows that the average job is relatively unaffected by the current use of A.I in the workplace when it comes to job growth or decline. So as for the near future, job security is rather safe.
My last question pertained to the future of A.I in the workplace, asking “Is there any form of A.I that you personally feel would aid in your line of work? If so, please state your line of work, and how the addition of A.I would aid you or your collogues. If you would prefer not to see A.I in your line of work, please write N/A.”. Of the applicable replies, generalized they all stated that automation in their industry would aid in efficiency and productivity. However, the vast majority of the replies were “N/A”, or agreed A.I in the workplace would be useful, but they could not think of possible applications for their field. Due to the lack of applicable responses to this question, it is hard to draw any reasonable conclusions with this information. However when referencing back to previous responses, many of these same people found A.I to aid in their work, therefore, I feel it safe to assume that people do not realize the potential benefits that A.I possess.
To summarize my findings, Artificial Intelligence has had a major increase in productivity in most all lines of work, but has not had little to no effect on job growth. Additionally the public outlook on A.I is far from optimistic, with few people wanting or seeing a use for it in their line of work.
