OECD Warns of AI Revolution’s Impact on Employment Levels

According to the OECD, over 25% of jobs within the organization are dependent on skills that could be easily automated in the upcoming artificial intelligence revolution. This has led to concerns among workers who worry about the possibility of losing their jobs to AI.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a 38-member bloc that covers mostly wealthy nations, but also some emerging economies such as Mexico and Estonia.

There is little evidence that the emergence of artificial intelligence will have a significant impact on jobs so far, but that may be because the revolution is in its early stages, the OECD said.

The jobs with the highest risk of being automated make up an average of 27 percent of the workforce in OECD countries, and Eastern European countries are more vulnerable, the Paris-based organization stated in its 2023 employment outlook.

The highest risk is defined as work that uses more than 25 of the 100 skills and abilities that AI experts believe can be easily automated.

Three out of five workers fear they could lose their jobs to artificial intelligence in the next 10 years, the OECD said in a study last year. The study covered 5,300 employees in 2,000 companies in the manufacturing and financial sectors in seven OECD countries.

The research was done before the explosion of generative AIs like ChatGPT.

Despite concerns about the arrival of AI, two-thirds of workers already working with it said automation had made their jobs less dangerous or boring.

“How artificial intelligence will ultimately affect workers in the workplace and whether the benefits outweigh the risks will depend on our actions,” OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said at a news conference.

“Government needs to help workers prepare for change and benefit from the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence,” he continued.

Minimum wages and collective bargaining can help ease the pressure on wages from AI, while governments and regulators must ensure that workers’ rights are not compromised, the OECD said.