- Ericsson looks at how AI will affect life in 2030 and beyond
- The firm released a study that looks at how work could split between the empowered and powerless
- The study finds that 70% of the AI fearful think AI will shrink their wages
Ericsson ConsumerLab has released a comprehensive high-level study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that takes in trends on everything from generative fashion to AI childcare and human digital twins.
Readers of Fierce Network, however, will no doubt be most fascinated in how Ericsson’s AI respondents – both hopeful and fearful – view how AI will evolve in the workplace.
For the overall study, Ericsson surveyed 6,510 urban early adopters of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), digital assistants and generative AI aged 15 to 69 in 13 major cities around the world to imagine a world in the 2030s where AI could affect many – most? – aspects of everyday life.
Ericsson said that 51% of the total sample identify as “AI hopeful” and are happy to use early AI digital assistants and more. However, 34% of the sample identify as “AI fearful” even among early adopters – and these respondents are fearful of AI-based respondents.
A fun future?
Notably, 70% of AI fearful respondents predict a future where increased AI productivity leads to shrinking human salaries. Of these believers, 72% also foresee this development as a threat to their personal financial well-being, painting a bleak picture: the human worker as an AI drone, reaping scant financial reward for their obedience.
“I'm not sure. I'm very concerned about it in terms of my field of work since I'm in the visual arts,” a respondent from San Francisco told the survey. Lawyers, accountants and, yes, even journalists feel you, SF respondent!
A strapping 84% of AI hopefuls, however, envision AI assistants becoming commonplace, bolstering work performance and efficiency. Indeed, 81% of those who believe in this AI-powered future also anticipate a positive impact on their own careers. (Those happy AI people are probably in the marketing department, right?)
“Yet, the AI hopeful and AI fearful groups do not necessarily present a divided vision of the future. Instead, they hint at the emergence of two types of employees: the empowered and the powerless,” Ericsson said in the report.
Embracing workplace recommendations from future AI assistants might give you a competitive edge in your AI-assisted career, Ericsson noted. At the same time, AI could chip away at your paycheck and remove much of your autonomy, the vendor suggests.
“Striking a balance will be crucial to preserving a humane work life,” Ericsson concluded.