Gen Z Americans most worried about AI job threat, survey finds
ONTARIO, CANADA — A new survey from global learning technology company D2L reveals generational divides in how U.S. employees view artificial intelligence‘s (AI) impact on their careers.
The survey of 3,000 full and part-time American workers found that 60% want to use AI tools more at work over the next year. However, 52% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennial respondents are worried about being replaced by 2025 by coworkers with superior AI skills – significantly higher than the 33% of Gen Xers who held similar concerns.
Over half (56%) of all respondents agreed AI-adept employees deserve higher salaries.
Additionally, around a quarter of Gen Z (26%) and Millennial (24%) workers aim to complete six to ten professional development courses in the next 12 months, compared to just 12% of Gen X employees.
“Skills development – whether it’s on using generative AI more efficiently, or simply upskilling to stay ahead of change – is crucial for workers to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of work,” said Dr. Sasha Thackaberry, VP of Wave at D2L.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently emphasized the critical role of upskilling and development as various disruptive trends, like generative AI, are poised to reshape the global workforce landscape. The WEF predicts that 23% of jobs will change in the next five years.
Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi argued the greater risk isn’t workers losing jobs directly to AI systems: “It’s not that the worker gets replaced by just a robot or a machine in most cases, especially for desk jobs, it’s that some better or more educated worker can do that job because they can be twice as productive or three times as productive.”
However, a study from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) revealed that AI job displacement is slower than predicted. Goldman Sachs believes AI advancements could jeopardize 300 million jobs globally due to automation while tech billionaire Elon Musk says AI will end the need for jobs, but many think human labor will still be necessary for many roles.
