A study examined the labor market in the USA. It concludes that one-tenth of workers could be replaced by AI. This further increases the pressure on employees, who already fear being replaced by AI.
A new MIT study (PDF file) concludes that today’s AI systems could theoretically take on tasks equivalent to around 11.7% of the US workforce. This primarily applies to well-paid, knowledge-intensive office jobs.
In principle, this study can be transferred to the German labor market if a few adjustments are made.
Researchers simulate the US labor market to calculate whom AI could replace
What exactly did the researchers do? The study was conducted using a labor simulation tool called Iceberg Index, developed by MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The MIT researchers simulated a “digital twin” of the US labor market with 151 million employees, 923 occupational groups, and over 32,000 skills to calculate where AI can currently perform tasks at least cost-equivalent or cheaper than humans.
From these calculations, it emerges that approximately 11.7% of the wage sum – about 1.2 trillion US dollars – could be technically and economically automatable if companies fully utilized the existing AI.
However, it is important to note that the researchers only calculated the potential for automation. That is, how many jobs could possibly be replaced without necessarily providing the option for it (via cnbc.com).
Complex tasks and routines could be directly replaced by AI
Which jobs are particularly affected? In particular, cognitive and administrative tasks in finance, health administration, human resources, logistics, as well as legal and accounting services could already be well taken over by AI. It is less about manual labor, but rather about routine office tasks such as data entry, standard reports, simple analyses, appointment and document management, or form processing. This is reported by Fortune.com.
Can this also be transferred to Germany? The MIT study on the US labor market can essentially be transferred to Germany, as similar AI technologies and automation potentials exist in cognitive and administrative activities, but adjustments to the German occupational structure, regulations, and industry focus are necessary to obtain comparable estimates.
However, it is already true in Germany: Highly qualified jobs, such as in IT or engineering, are more affected by AI, while simple tasks are supplemented by physical automation.
Many individuals fear for their jobs due to AI. Now, Microsoft has published a study indicating which jobs are most likely to be affected. Here, 40 jobs are listed that are strongly affected by AI. However, 40 jobs are also mentioned that need not worry. Those working as embalmers can now relax: 40 professions that Microsoft indicates are most affected by AI – and 40 that are still safe
