The Revolution In The Job Market: Whether AI Tools Are Really Contributing To Layoffs

The emergence of AI tools has revolutionized the way of working across several industries. AI tools like chatbots, generative AI, machine learning, natural language processing and many others have become integral parts of businesses because of their potential to increase work productivity. While there is no doubt regarding the efficiency of AI tools in businesses, the question is raised at the same time whether AI tools will replace human workers.

Due to the arrival of AI tools, the labour market is expected to undergo a considerable transformation in the coming years. It is projected that the work patterns of around 23 per cent of current jobs will be changed by 2027, and as a consequence of this transformation, there is the potential of approximately 83 million job losses in the upcoming five years. The AI tools have the capability to automate the repetitive administrative tasks of the human worker with greater speed and efficiency and fewer errors. That is why artificial intelligence tools are gaining immense popularity in contemporary business circumstances. 

Five jobs which are at risk due to AI tools

Administrative

In the future, there is no need for office administrators and assistant workers because the routine tasks they used to perform in the daily work schedules can be automated with the usage of artificial intelligence tools. These tasks can include data entry, sending emails, screening job applications based on specific qualifications and many others.

Customer service

There is a lot of scope for artificial intelligence tools to replace the job roles of customer service representatives. AI tools like chatbots and robotic process automation are accountable for offering quick as well as personalized responses to the basic queries of the customers, which leads to the minimization of the requirements of customer service representatives.

Content writing

Around 81.6 per cent of digital marketers are found to be believing that the people who are doing their jobs as content writers will be replaced by AI in the coming years. Nowadays, creating engaging and attractive content is just a matter of a few seconds, irrespective of the size of the content. In this regard, one just needs to put the prompt correctly in the generative artificial intelligence tools like Gemini and ChatGPT in the subject matter they want to write, and the respective tools generate the relevant content within a few seconds.

Drivers

Can you imagine you are in a car which is running safely without any driver. Yes, it is possible at the current time because of the development of AI-enabled autonomous vehicles. There is no driver assistance required in autonomous vehicles to control and monitor the vehicles as these types of vehicles are designed with the integration of AI tools and sensors, which makes them capable of controlling the cars without drivers. For example, Uber, the leading ridesharing company, is in the process of offering this type of rider through collaboration with self-driving car organisations such as Aurora and Waymo, creating concerns for its several human drivers.

Travel advisor

The reliance on travel agents to get travel tips and personalised recommendations is reducing day by day among travellers. The deployment of artificial intelligence tools by travel platforms can facilitate travellers to get customised recommendations based on their searches. Even travellers nowadays are empowered to be involved in virtual tours due to the modern technologies which allow the travellers to decide on their own to visit a place without any advice from travel agents.

Case study of layoffs due to the emphasis on AI tools

Case Study 1: Cisco

In order to be relevant in the current business environment driven by technological advancements, several companies are found to be investing a considerable amount of money towards the deployment of AI tools which led them to choose the path of workforce reduction. For example, Cisco, the US based multinational networking equipment manufacturing company, has been seen to lay off their employees due to the investment in artificial intelligence tools and security. In February 2024, the company terminated around 4000 employees, while in August made the announcement of reducing 7 per cent more workforce, which is equivalent to 5600 employees. 

Case study 2: Ikea

Ikea, a multinational furniture company, has integrated an AI bot titled Billie to transfer the job responsibilities of its call centre operations. However, instead of laying off the impacted employees, the company is providing training to those employees to make them relevant for the new job role like interior design advisors. 

Case Study 3: Salesforce

There is a layoff of 700 employees reported in Salesforce which is an American software company. It has been speculated that the company has filled the job roles with AI tools as it has increased expenditure on artificial intelligence. 

Case study 4: Turnitin

Turnitin is a popular platform which is recognised for the detection of AI in the content. In late 2023, the company dismissed 13 workers, while a 20 per cent reduction in the number of employees can be seen in the middle of 2024 due to the AI effectiveness, as reported by the CEO of the company.

Case Study 5: Klarna

Klarna, which is a fintech organisation, is found to be leveraging the AI system, which is capable of executing the activities of around 700 customer service representatives efficiently. While these job roles are currently outsourced by the company, the initiatives reflect the company’s future objective to alter the employees with AI.

How artificial intelligence tools can generate employment opportunities?

The transformation of the labour market will not be characterised by the loss of jobs but also by the formation of new job opportunities. While the regular administrative tasks of the employees can be replaced by artificial intelligence tools, at the same time, they can get the opportunity to manage the core responsibilities of the businesses. Therefore, instead of considering artificial intelligence tools as a threat, human-AI collaboration could improve the efficiency and productivity of human capabilities.

For example, customer service representatives can leverage the power of AI in responding towards the basic queries of the customers like product specification, costs and available plans, while they can be involved in more interactive communication with the customers to drive sales and increase customer loyalty. Apart from the internal job transfer, it is expected that the transition in the job market driven by artificial intelligence tools will create employment opportunities for around 69 million new jobs over the next five years.

According to the Future of Jobs Report 2023 published by the World Economic Forum, some of the emerging job roles in the future are data analysts and scientists, AI and machine learning specialists, AI ethics specialists, cybersecurity analysts and engineers and many others. According to the projection, the demand for the AI and machine learning specialist’s job roles will increase by 40 per cent by 2027, while a rise will be observed for the big data specialists is 30 to 35 per cent and for the information security analysts by 31 per cent.

Therefore, the major priority of the leading companies should remain the offering of training to the employees to build their skills on artificial intelligence tools rather than integration of the path of laying offs.

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