More than 40% of global businesses want to reduce staffing because of AI

On January 8, WEF released the Future of Jobs report. Accordingly, after surveying hundreds of large businesses globally, they found that between now and 2030, 41% plan to reduce staffing when artificial intelligence (AI) takes over some jobs.

In addition, about 77% said they plan to retrain and improve skills for current workers in the period 2025-2030 to work better with AI. However, unlike 2023, this year’s report no longer identifies new technologies, including AI, “will have a positive impact” on the number of jobs.

“Innovations in AI and renewable energy will reshape the job market, by increasing demand for technology or specialist positions, while decreasing demand for other occupations, such as graphic design “, WEF said in the statement. This report was released ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos later this month.

Jobs such as postal service workers, executive assistants, and payroll accountants are among the groups that will decline the most in the coming years, due to the popularity of AI and other trends. “For the first time, graphic designers and legal secretaries are among the job groups with the largest decline. This shows that generative AI is increasingly capable of doing knowledge-related jobs,” the report said. .

In contrast, skills related to artificial intelligence are increasingly in demand. Nearly 70% of businesses plan to recruit new personnel with AI tool design skills. 62% plan to increase recruitment of personnel with better skills in working with AI.

However, the report still appears optimistic. Researchers say the main impact of technology, such as generative AI, on jobs may just be to “improve” human skills through “human-machine collaboration”, rather than completely replace them. full. Especially when soft skills are still of great importance.

However, many workers have been replaced by AI. In the past few years, many large technology companies, such as data storage service Dropbox and foreign language learning application Duolingo, have pointed to artificial intelligence as a reason for firing employees.