Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the buzzword for companies globally for the last two years. The popularity of AI models has left human workers concerned about their careers as employers attempt to use the technology to cut costs, increase efficiency and maximise revenues. And yet, one of the first studies to analyse AI use in conjunction with employment data has returned some 'mild' results.
A working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Denmark, found that AI's use had a negligible effect on hours and pay. On average, employees saved three per cent of their time, while just three to seven per cent of their productivity gains came back to them in the form of higher pay.
"AI chatbots have had no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation," economists Anders Humlum and Emilie Vestergaard wrote in the paper.
For the study, 25,000 workers across 7,000 workspaces were analysed. The majority of the employees belonged to occupations (accountants, customer support specialists, financial advisors, HR professionals, software developers and teachers) believed to be susceptible to disruption by AI.
After analysing the data, the researchers said they found no displacement of human workers, nor did they see "transformed productivity and hefty raises for AI-wielding superworkers".
"While adoption has been rapid, with firms now heavily invested in unlocking the technological potential, the economic impacts remain small," the researchers said.
"Modest productivity gains (average time savings of 3 per cent), combined with weak wage pass-through, help explain these limited labour market effects. Our findings challenge narratives of imminent labor market transformation due to Generative AI."
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The findings may shock the companies which are actively trying to reduce their headcount in favour of AI. CrowdStrike, the infamous cybersecurity company responsible for the massive global IT outage last year, announced this month that it was slashing five per cent of its workforce and replacing it with AI.
Similarly, language-learning platform Duolingo announced it would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle". The company justified its switch in approach, stating that it had taken a similar call in 2012 by betting big on mobile.
