Microsoft has said artificial intelligence will ‘remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity’ – with more staff hoping to offload tasks than fearing they will be replaced by machines.
AI will also ease workers’ ‘digital debt’ – the volume of emails, meetings, notifications and data, which the company said now exceeds humans’ ability to process it all.
Commenting on the release of the company’s annual Work Trend Index report, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said: ‘There’s an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees.
‘This new generation of AI will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity.’
Data gathered by Microsoft 365 apps showed the average employee spends about 57% of their time communicating – including writing email or attending meetings – and 43% creating, such as working on documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Some employees are spending almost nine hours a week writing emails. While Microsoft doesn’t recommend how AI may reduce this, Large Language Models such as its own Bing chatbot and Google rival Bard already have the capability to expand brief notes into a fully fledged missive.
But although 70% of those surveyed said they would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lighten their workload, 49% also said they are worried AI will replace their jobs.
Paradoxically, 73% of respondents said they would be comfortable using AI for creative work. For administrative tasks the figure was 76%, and for analysis, 79%.
People also believed AI had the potential to formulate ideas (75%) and edit their work (75%).
‘It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs,’ said organisational psychology professor and author Adam Grant.
Business leaders surveyed by Microsoft also agreed on the potential of AI, reportedly being twice as interested in using AI ‘to increase productivity rather than cut headcount’. In addition, 82% said their employees will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI.
‘We’re in the next phase of change with the introduction of generative AI, and it’s already starting to reshape the labour market,’ said Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft. ‘While it’s still early days, this shift will expand opportunities, create new roles, and augment productivity.’
The number of LinkedIn posts on topics such as AI and ChatGPT is up 3,300% year on year, while US job adverts mentioning chatbots is up 79%.
Summing up the report, the Microsoft team said: ‘AI is poised to lift the weight of work – and has great potential to free people from digital debt and fuel innovation. And for both overwhelmed employees and leaders looking to bolster productivity, that promise is overdue.
‘But AI won’t simply ‘fix’ work – it will create a whole new way of working. Leaders will need to help employees learn to work responsibly alongside AI to reap the rewards of the AI-employee alliance – more value creation for businesses and a brighter, more fulfilling future of work for everyone.’
The report comes as numerous Silicon Valley pioneers have issued warnings about rapid and unregulated progress in the field.
Last week, Mr Nadella was among a number of tech execs called to the White House by President Joe Biden over safety concerns.
MORE : AI may make scams and misinformation harder to spot, warns Apple co-founder
MORE : ‘Godfather of AI’ warns of dangers for humanity as he quits Google
from Tech – Metro https://ift.tt/bWdNUz9
via IFTTT
0 Response for the "More staff hope AI will ‘save them from burnout’ than fear it will steal their job"
Post a Comment