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The Corporate world and especially America is rapidly adopting artificial intelligence to automate work once exclusively done by humans.
According to a survey by US Finance released on Friday, more than half (61%) of large US firms plan to use AI within the next year to automate tasks previously done by employees.
The task which ranges from paying suppliers and doing invoices to financial reporting, said the survey conducted by Duke University and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Richmond.
That’s in addition to creative tasks for which some businesses are already relying on ChatGPT and other AI chatbots to assist, including crafting job posts, writing press releases and building marketing campaigns.
The findings show companies are increasingly turning to AI to cut costs, boost profits and make their workers more productive.
According to the Duke Finance academic Director, Professor John Graham said, “You can’t be running an innovative company without seriously considering these technologies. You run the risk of being left behind."
"Nearly one in three (32%) firms — large or small — plan to use AI in the next year to complete tasks once done by humans.
Why AI
Some larger firms with the needed manpower have started experimenting with the AI.
Nearly 60% of all companies (and 84% of large companies) surveyed said that over the past year they have already leaned on software, equipment or technology including AI to automate tasks employees previously did.
Bosses are turning to AI for a variety of reasons, including to trim what they are spending on human workers.
The CFO Survey found that companies say they are using automation to increase product quality (58% of firms); increase output (49%), reduce labor costs (47%) and substitute for workers (33%).
Expert Arguments
With the shift to AI some workers have feared mass job loss would be the case, especially if adopted in Nigeria but experts have argued that AI will not right away cause job loss.
“I don’t think there will be a lot of job loss in the year,” said Graham.
“In the short run, this will be more about plugging some holes and possibly not hiring someone they would have otherwise — but not laying someone off."
“This could give humans more time to prioritize what is most important and rewarding,” said Graham.
Reid Hoffman, the billionaire investor and co-founder of LinkedIn, said that AI will likely disrupt some jobs but not in the immediate future.
“Years, not decades, but years, not months,” Hoffman said, referring to the timing of AI displacing humans. “I believe in three to five years, we’ll all have kind of an agent co-pilot that’s helping us with anything from how we cook dinner…to doing your job and writing and so forth.”
“It’s job transformation. Human jobs will be replaced — but will be replaced by other humans using AI,” he said. “The whole ideas is to be the human who is using AI, to learn it, to do it, to make it happen.”
AFP
