- This year, the tech industry has already cut 5% more jobs than it did in all of 2024, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, and is on track to surpass the job losses of 2001.
- Not only are workers afraid of being laid off, but they are all afraid of being replaced.
- 300 million jobs globally will be affected by artificial intelligence and automation, according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs.
As if there weren’t already enough layoff concerns in the tech industry, add ChatGPT to the list of things workers worry about, mirroring the advancement of this AI-based chatbot trickling into the workplace.
So far this year, the tech industry has already cut 5% more jobs than it did in all of 2024, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The rate of layoffs is on track to surpass the job loss numbers for 2001, the worst year for layoffs due to the dot-com crash.
As layoffs continue to mount, workers are afraid not only of being laid off, but of being replaced all together. A recent Goldman Sachs report found that 300 million jobs worldwide will be affected by artificial intelligence and automation.
But ChatGPT and AI shouldn’t create fear among employees because these tools will help people and companies work more efficiently, according to Sultan Saidov, co-founder and president of Beamery, a global human capital management software-as-a-service company, which has its own GPT, or Transformer. Pre-trained obstetrician, which is called TalentGPT.
“It is already estimated that 300 million jobs will be affected by AI and automation,” Saidov said. “The question is: Does this mean that these people are going to change jobs or lose their jobs? I think, in a lot of cases, it’s going to be changed rather than lost.”
ChatGPT is one type of GPT tool that uses learning models to generate human-like responses, and Saidov says GPT technology can help workers do more than just hold conversations. Especially in the tech industry, certain jobs are likely to be affected more than others.
Saidoff refers to creative people in the technology industry, such as designers, video game creators, photographers, and those who make digital images, as those whose careers likely wouldn’t be eliminated entirely. He said this will help these roles create more and do their jobs faster.
“If you look at the Industrial Revolution, when you suddenly have automation in agriculture, does that mean that fewer people will be doing certain jobs in agriculture?” Saidov said. “Sure, because you wouldn’t need many people in that area, but it just means the same number of people are going to different jobs.”
Just like similar trends in history, creative jobs will be in demand after the widespread inclusion of generative AI and other AI technologies in the workplace.
“With video game makers, if the number of games made globally doesn’t change from year to year, you probably need fewer game designers,” Saidov said. “But if you can create more as a company, this technology will only increase the number of games that you will be able to make.”
Because of the hype of ChatGPT, many software developers and engineers are worried about their job security, which makes some people look for new skills, learn how to engineer generative AI, and add these skills to their resumes.
“It is not fair to say that GPT will completely eliminate jobs, such as developers and engineers,” says Sameer Pinakalapati, CEO at Ceipal, an AI-driven talent acquisition platform.
But while these jobs will still exist, their tasks and responsibilities are likely to be diminished due to GPT and generative AI.
According to Pinakalapati, there is an important difference to be made between GPT specifically and generative AI more broadly when it comes to the job market. GPT is a mathematical or statistical model designed to learn patterns and provide results. But he said other forms of generative AI could go further, reconstructing different outcomes based on patterns and learning, almost mirroring the human brain.
As an example, Penakalapati says if you look at software developers, engineers, and testers, GPT can generate code in a matter of seconds, giving software users and customers exactly what they need without porting needs, adaptations, and fixes. for the development team. He said that GPT can do the job of a programmer or tester right away, rather than the days or weeks it would take a human to generate the same thing.
Generative AI can more broadly impact software engineers, specifically (development and operations) engineers, from developing code to deployment, performing maintenance, and making updates in software development, Pinakalapati said. In this broader set of tasks, generative AI can simulate what an engineer will do during the development cycle.
While development and engineering roles are quickly adapting to these tools in the workplace, Pinakalapati said it would be impossible for tools to completely replace humans. We will most likely see a decrease in the number of developers and engineers needed to create software.
“Whether you’re writing a piece of code, whether you’re testing how users interact with your software, or whether you’re designing a program and choosing certain colors from a color palette, you will always need someone, to help with the process,” said Pinakalapati.
While GPT and AI will impact roles more than others, the combination of these tools will affect every knowledge worker, generally referred to as anyone who uses or handles information in their job, according to Michael Choi, partner at the McKinsey Global Institute.
“These technologies allow the ability to create first drafts very quickly, for all kinds of different things, whether it’s writing, creating computer code, or creating images, video, and music,” Choi said. “You can imagine almost any knowledge worker being able to take advantage of this technology and the technology certainly delivers speed with these kinds of capabilities.”
A recent study by OpenAIHe, the creator of ChatGPT, found that nearly 80% of the US workforce could be affected by at least 10% of their work tasks by introducing learning models in GPT technology, while nearly 19% of workers could see that 50% of their functions have been affected.
Choi said workers today can’t remember a time when they didn’t have tools like Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word, so, in some ways, we can expect that workers in the future won’t be able to imagine a world of work without AI and GPT tools.
“Even technologies that greatly increased productivity, in the past, didn’t necessarily lead to fewer people doing work,” Choi said. “The bottom line is, the world will always need more software.”