A new survey reveals European workers’ attitudes towards AI – with nearly half expecting a major impact on their working lives within the next year.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked widespread worries this year about how it could affect jobs – and now a new survey has found almost half of workers in Europe are predicting a “significant” impact on their job in the next year.
Tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are capable of writing entire articles in relatively natural language, passing exams, and even writing functional code.
Meanwhile, artists and graphic designers may be wondering just how far generative AI tools for image creation like Midjourney or DALL·E 2 are going to go in the coming years.
The careers social network LinkedIn conducted a survey, asking more than 10,000 workers over the age of 18 how they view the impact of AI on their working lives.
According to the results, many of the respondents – who are based in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy – revealed they felt AI was going to have a significant impact on them.
Around 45 per cent predicted it would cause a “significant” change to their jobs in the next year, with more than a third both feeling overwhelmed and worried they won’t be able to keep up with the developments in their workplaces.
Latest AI developments ‘can feel overwhelming’
“Hot off the heels of the pandemic, once again professionals are adapting to another wave of change as generative AI becomes more prominent in the workplace,” said Charlotte Davies, a career expert at LinkedIn.
She said that while it’s understandable catching up with the latest developments “can feel overwhelming,” it’s positive to see so many people embracing the changes and working to learn about how to harness the technology.
The survey found around half wanted to learn more, with 59 per cent currently lacking any formal training provision from their employer. A third are already using AI in their job, with 26 per cent using generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
“It’s also clear that people are eager to learn more about AI and we’re seeing a significant increase in conversations on LinkedIn with members already adding AI skills to their profiles, but our data also highlights the enormous value of soft skills and how important these will be for the future as we continue to navigate this new tech and the change it brings,” added Davies.
Many experts have highlighted how soft skills are going to be vital in a future where there is more AI and automation at play. LinkedIn’s study found that half of the professionals surveyed saw skills like problem solving, time management, and strategic thinking would become more important.