AI Anxiety - Employees worry about an uncertain future

The big wave of AI is beginning to sweep through many occupational fields, leaving many workers feeling extreme anxiety that their jobs will be replaced, and the psychological effects are growing day by day.

Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence platform that can process complex tasks according to instructions. This major technology marks the beginning of artificial intelligence to change our working environment.

"Anything new and unknown causes anxiety," Clare Gustavsson, a New York-based therapist who has expressed concerns about artificial intelligence, told AFP.

"The speed of technological development is faster than it is difficult to stand firm."

Professions such as legal assistants, programmers, accountants, and financial advisors are all feeling the threat AI poses to their jobs. These generative AIs are capable of rapidly creating human-like articles, computer codes, articles or expert insights.

According to a study published in March, analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that AI will affect or eliminate about 300 million jobs.

"I predict that in the next 10 years, my job may not be guaranteed." A bank teller, who did not want to be named, expressed concern about the future to AFP.

"I'm planning to switch careers. The bank I work for is expanding AI research."

Embrace the unknown-

An entertainment professional is concerned about artificial intelligence being used in film and television production, posing a threat to actors and screenwriters and a spark for the current Hollywood strike, New York therapist Meris Powell told AFP.

"The first ones to suffer are professionals in the creative field," Gustafson said.

She believes that the impact of AI is no less than that of climate change and COVID-19.

But she says she tries to get her patients to "embrace the unknown" and to gain an advantage by giving them an attitude of shifting to a new mindset.

A New York-based animation producer was alarmed to see his career threatened when he saw AI-generated imagery (such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion) rival those created by humans.

"People are starting to realize that some of the skills they have may be replaced by AI," she told AFP. She also said that she had honed her coding skills, but now in the world of AI, even with this Skills also looked hopeless.

Transformation

“I would probably lean more towards a management role,” she continued. “It’s just difficult because there’s less demand for those roles.”

In the past, I would only pursue things I was interested in and skills I loved. Now I am more inclined to think about what is actually more useful and more marketable in the future. "

Peter Vukovic, a former chief technology officer at several start-ups, predicts that only 1% or less of the population will benefit from AI.

"For others, it's unclear and uncharted territory," said Vukovic, who lives in Bosnia. "99% of people have reason to worry."

Vukovic said AI is currently being used primarily for efficiency and profitability, but it can be used for other purposes as well.

"Should we think about how to make good use of it?" he asked. "Is this really just to automate a bunch of jobs?"

(Compilation: Chen Bingxuan)

(Editor in charge: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: New Sancai first release)