AI-generated content, like this image, often draws criticism for jumbling words and distorting facial features. |
|
Recent labor union fights over the role of generative artificial intelligence in work typically done by humans demonstrate one possible sign of wider strife to come as the technology spreads.
Hollywood actors in November ended their four month strike after reaching a deal with studios that included limits on use of AI in recreating performances, requiring consent from actors to create and use their digital replicas. That followed a September resolution of a nearly six-month strike by the Writers Guild of America that ended when the union and Hollywood studios agreed to limit the use of AI in script writing.
These labor agreements arrived amidst a period of legal murkiness for AI, which is still in its relative infancy, with regard to its potential threats to the labor market. While many believe AI will help boost worker productivity, concerns about replacing workers are also significant. Nearly 23% of more than 500 professionals polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence in November reported worker replacement as the biggest expected impact of AI on employment.
"The fear of AI replacing writers isn't isolated to Hollywood," said Jonathan Kestenbaum, managing director at AMS, a talent solutions firm. "This concern is widespread across various creative sectors, including journalism, art and even music composition."
Significant reach
The reach of AI has become increasingly significant in numerous fields, including healthcare where it is transforming diagnostics and patient care, and finance where its being used for risk assessment and fraud detection, Kestenbaum said. AI also reaches into customer services and manufacturing jobs.
"These advancements are not just about automation; they're about enhancing capabilities and efficiency in ways that were previously not possible," Kestenbaum said.
Those possibilities have rattled many workers, who fear that every advancement in AI poses a new threat to future employment. An AFL-CIO poll released in August found that 70% of workers were worried about being replaced by AI.
"We previously told ourselves that AI and robots were coming for the occupations what were dull, dirty and dangerous — like mining, cleaning up chemical spills or exploring deep space," said David Gunkel, a professor at Northern Illinois University who specializes in AI and robot ethics. "Now the AI and robots are coming for routine intellectual and creative work."
Ongoing developments in large language models, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, and generative AI like Midjourney, DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, have widened AI's potential reach in the workplace, Gunkel said.
In a recent study of more than 55 million job postings, researchers at Indeed found that nearly all jobs had some potential exposure to generative artificial intelligence. But how much exposure depends on what skills are involved.
The study found that GenAI was "good" or "excellent" at 95% of the skills in software development postings, for example, but "good" or "excellent" at just 29% of skills in driving jobs, such as truck and taxi drivers.
Many of the jobs most frequently posted on Indeed, including cooks, nurses and childcare, are the least exposed to GenAI, the study found.
"Unlike earlier advances in robotics and computing that largely impacted and replaced manual labor, knowledge workers are much more likely to be impacted by this evolution in GenAI technology," the report said.
Exercising caution
The increasing impact of AI has amplified calls to protect workers whose skillsets may be at risk.
"We're seeing a lot of interest in protecting against some of the worst risks that might materialize," said Trey Causey, head of AI ethics and director of data science for Indeed. "We're also seeing a lot of folks asking: 'How can we do that while protecting innovation and being able to take advantage of all the opportunities can afford?' Balancing those two columns is going to be very important as we move forward."
The Biden administration included potential worker protections in an Oct. 30 executive order on AI, calling for development of a best practices plan that includes addressing job displacement from the technology and calling for a federal report on how it may affect the labor market.
Unions have also ramped up their criticism of AI.
"Irresponsible uses of AI can deepen discrimination, bias, and other abuses in the workplace by unleashing automated tools that intensify work, micromanage and surveil workers and decrease worker agency," Arohi Pathak, deputy director of AFL-CIO Tech Institute, said in an e-mail. "Workers need strong protections to avoid such threats."
Several media entities have garnered some criticism for their use of AI. In August, Gannett, the country's largest newspaper chain, paused use of its new AI service aimed at automating high school sports coverage after readers found mistakes in a number of stories. Red Ventures, a digital media and marketing company, was criticized for numerous layoffs that coincided with its use of AI to produce stories on CNET, the tech news and reviews site it owns. Sports Illustrated in November deleted articles across its website after accusations that stories written by AI were published under fake author names.
As was the case during many other economic revolutions, advances in AI will likely result in short-term job losses. But these losses will ultimately be offset by longer term opportunities, according to Gunkel
"We can and should do a better job of managing the transition, and that is only possible when governments seek to address and balance the tremendous asymmetries in power between multinational corporations and their workers," he said.