AI evaluates UK jobs’ prestige, but issues remain
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — New research from the International Labour Organization examines how artificial intelligence (AI) assesses the prestige and value of occupations in the United Kingdom (UK), finding both promise and limitations.
The study “A Technological Construction of Society: Comparing GPT-4 and Human Respondents for Occupational Evaluation in the UK” compared rankings of over 100 UK jobs’ prestige by the AI system GPT-4 versus human respondents. GPT-4 simulated the perspectives of 100 average UK adults.
Results showed GPT-4 accurately predicted average UK opinions.
“This “algorithmic understanding” of general human opinions could potentially allow AI to be used for occupational research, with benefits including efficiency, cost effectiveness, speed, and accuracy in capturing general tendencies,” the report said.
However, GPT-4 overvalued digital economy and marketing roles while undervaluing some stigmatized jobs compared to human raters. Additionally, manipulating GPT-4’s instructions revealed an inability to fully comprehend prestige hierarchies.
Discover how #AI is revolutionizing job evaluation in this 🆕 @ilo research.
While AI brings efficiency and cost-effectiveness, there are some obstacles to overcome.
Explore the findings ⬇️https://t.co/s6WAxWUIXW
— International Labour Organization (@ilo) February 2, 2024
The study cautions that GPT-4 is trained predominantly on Western perspectives, so relying solely on AI risks marginalizing minority viewpoints in areas like career advice.
“Therefore, while they can be a helpful complementary research tool – for example in processing large amount of unstructured text, voice and image inputs – they carry a serious risk of omitting the views of demographic minorities or vulnerable groups,” the report said.
Meanwhile, according to a Tidio survey, 67% of human resource (HR) professionals see value in AI recruiting technologies. However, 35% believe using technology could still risk bias and overlook unique and unconventional talents.
The researchers conclude AI holds promise for complementing occupational research but urge careful consideration of its limitations when providing career advice or conducting algorithmic performance evaluations.
Major corporations, including Microsoft, Amazon, Unilever, and Koch Industries, have collaborated to establish principles and protocols for ethical use of AI. Last year, the European Union reached a landmark deal on world’s first extensive AI rules.
