Increasingly there seems to be just three positions on the future of AI and work:
- Doom: A 2023 Goldman Sachs prediction that as many as 300 million fulltime jobs would be lost due to AI inflamed the anxieties of many, who see the tech as a potential devastation for workers—potentially leading even to our extinction.
- Giddiness: With McKinsey predicting an added $17 to $25 trillion in value from AI, and ChatGPT logging 180.5 million users (100 million active weekly!), many (especially in big tech and their investors) are ecstatic about AI’s furious adoption and continuous innovation.
- Ignorance: Believe it or not, only 23% of US adults say they have ever used ChatGPT, according to the Pew Research Center (up from 18% in July 2023). 34% say they have heard nothing at all about ChatGPT, showing that a third of Americans remain outside this loop entirely.
But just as the hopes of massive financial windfalls remain largely speculative (aside from big tech stock prices—check out our AI roundup for more), so, too, an apocalypse of AI and job displacement has yet to materialize.
In this week’s PTP Report, we look at these first two viewpoints (doom and hope), aiming to chart a more nuanced look at how AI might change more of our lives, in the near term, and for the better.
The Doomsday Scenarios
From an Adecco Group study that 41% of executives expect to employ less people, to Elon