Phew! AI Won’t Take Your Job Just Yet, MIT Data Finds — But There’s A Caveat

With fears of job displacement by artificial intelligence spreading far and wide, workers everywhere are trying to predict whether AI will take their jobs, and what to do about it.

Yet, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe the rate of transformation will be slower than expected, as it’s still not economically feasible for companies to replace employees with an AI system.

The researchers developed a model to calculate the cost of building an AI system that would replace a worker’s tasks. They used it to understand whether it would make sense for the company to replace that worker with a machine. 

The conclusion: human labor is still cheaper in most cases.

Job Displacement By AI Is A Valid Concern

Disruptions to the labor markets rank high amongst concerns stemming from the rapid development of AI.

In May of last year, a survey commissioned by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) found 49% of workers were worried that AI would take their jobs. That fear reached 60% of workers who are already using AI to complement their daily tasks, as per a separate survey from December.

Their worries are not unfounded.

All through 2023, news reports and financial analyses consistently predicted that the impact of AI in the workplace would be substantial. A Goldman Sachs report from last year put at least 300 million full-time jobs at risk of automation by generative AI.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund warned that at least 40% of jobs globally will be affected by AI, worsening income inequality and social tensions.

AI Won’t Replace Jobs So Quickly, Study Finds

A new paper by MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory argued most concerns about AI taking people’s jobs focus on the technological capabilities of artificial intelligence.

These predictions tend to assume that if a job can be automated, it will be, but fail to take into consideration the economic feasibility of going through with that automation.

While workplace automation continues on a steady course, the researchers argued at its current level, AI technology continues to be more expensive for employers than human labor in at least three-quarters of all positions at risk of being replaced.

Looking at the costs of generating and maintaining an AI system, the group of researchers…