Johannes P. Christo/Portal
A participant at an International Monetary Fund meeting stood next to the IMF logo in Bali, Indonesia, in 2018.
Hong Kong CNN –
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nearly 40% of jobs worldwide could be affected by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), a trend that is likely to worsen inequality.
In a blog post on Sunday, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva called on governments to set up social safety nets and offer retraining programs to counter the effects of AI.
“In most scenarios, AI is likely to worsen overall inequality, a worrying trend that policymakers must proactively address to prevent technology from further fueling social tensions,” she wrote ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, where the issue was raised, is at the top of the agenda.
As AI continues to be adopted by more workers and companies, it is expected to both help and harm the human workforce, Georgieva noted.
Echoing previous warnings from other experts, Georgieva said the impact would likely be felt more strongly in advanced economies than in emerging markets, in part because white-collar workers were more at risk than blue-collar workers.
For example, in more developed economies, up to 60% of jobs could be affected by AI. About half of those could benefit from how AI promotes higher productivity, she said.
“For the other half, AI applications can perform important tasks currently performed by humans, which could reduce demand for labor and lead to lower wages and fewer hirings,” Georgieva wrote, citing the IMF analysis.
“In the worst case scenario, some of these jobs could disappear.”
In emerging and lower-income countries, AI is expected to affect 40% and 26% of jobs, respectively. By emerging markets we mean places like India and Brazil with sustained economic growth, while by low-income countries we mean developing countries whose per capita income is at a certain level, such as Burundi and Sierra Leone.
“Many of these countries do not have the infrastructure or skilled workforce to take advantage of the benefits of AI, increasing the risk that the technology could worsen inequality over time,” Georgieva noted.
She warned that the use of AI could increase the risk of social unrest, particularly if younger, less experienced workers use the technology to increase their productivity while older workers struggle to keep up.
AI became a hot topic at the WEF in Davos last year when ChatGPT took the world by storm. The chatbot sensation, powered by generative AI, sparked discussions about how it could change the way people work around the world due to its ability to write essays, speeches, poems and more.
Since then, upgrades to the technology have expanded the use of AI chatbots and systems, making them mainstream and spurring massive investment.
Some tech companies have already pointed directly to AI as a reason for their rethinking of staffing.
According to a March 2023 estimate by Goldman Sachs economists, although jobs could shift, widespread adoption of AI could boost labor productivity and increase global GDP by 7% annually over ten years.
Georgieva also mentioned ways to increase production and income around the world through the use of AI in her blog post.
“AI will transform the global economy,” she wrote. “Let’s make sure it benefits humanity.”