If we had asked people six months ago about artificial intelligence, we could have found two types of answers: if companies answered, they would say that AI has many possibilities and is used by the most cutting-edge companies, but that it still has a lot of development left. . If a person on the street answered, however, perhaps they would have said that AI promises a lot... but that, until now, they have not seen anything tangible.
Surely both perceptions have suffered an overturn in recent months, when various chatbots based on artificial intelligence began to emerge that, in a very few seconds, are capable of responding to questions of all kinds (simple, technical, legal...) with a level of precision and accuracy that almost no one thought possible until now. These launches, along with the rise of other AIs that can generate photos or even videos autonomously, have meant a revolution. Companies are beginning to explore the possibilities offered by this technology, while citizens are beginning to assimilate it, although a doubt floats in the air: how will AI transform my job?
According to a survey by the Institute Business of Ethics, 59% of the Spanish population fears that their work will end up being replaced by this technology. Doubts about AI and employment may be legitimate, but are there really grounds for it? The truth is that no. Let's do an experiment. In the following graph we can see which countries, according to the Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2023 published by Stanford University, are the ones that invest the most money in artificial intelligence.
What happens to employment in these countries? Do they have more unemployment than others because they have developed AI and robotization? Absolutely; Quite the opposite: according to World Bank figures, all these countries, except Ireland, have an unemployment rate below the world average, which establishes the correlation between the commitment to AI and the maintenance of jobs. .
"AI will allow us to free ourselves from certain tedious and repetitive tasks, allowing us to focus more on those that add more value and in which people are irreplaceable," adds Emilia Martínez Serrano, director of Asset Optimization at Repsol Technology Lab.
As we see, the debate around AI and employment is recurrent and certainly interesting, but it is also worth highlighting that, leaving fear behind, this technology does not have to be threatening current jobs, but, in fact, it can even create new ones. Here are some of them.
As we see, the rise of artificial intelligence can raise many questions in society, but the examples show us how companies are not only taking advantage of the advantages of this technology, but, in fact, they are creating jobs related to it and in the that the human role, undoubtedly, continues to be essential. And it will be for a long time.
