HR reacts to fears that AI will take all our jobs

In recent weeks new reports on artificial intelligence have surfaced that seem to spell doom and gloom for the global workforce, at least at first glance.

Organizations expect employment to decline by 14 million jobs, “or 2% of current employment,” over the next five years, according to a World Economic Forum survey, due in part to technological advancements like AI.

Shortly after the WEF released its forecast, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Bloomberg the company will pause hiring for roles that could be replaced by AI and automation in the coming years. He estimated that 30% of the current workforce could be replaced by these technologies, representing around 7,800 jobs, and pointed to HR departments specifically as a likely target for automation.

The WEF report isn’t totally grim—it predicts, for example, that technologies including AI will have a net-positive effect on job growth in the future, and notes HR and talent acquisition roles are among the fastest-growing on LinkedIn, second only to sales growth and customer engagement.

Still, the WEF forecast, coupled with IBM’s bullish approach to AI, suggests HR departments are in for a rocky few years as they seek to prepare their employees—and themselves—for a future with these new technologies. Here’s what a few pros are saying about AI disruption to employment.

Fears of job loss are overexaggerated. “I think almost every job will change as a result of AI…It doesn’t mean those jobs will go away.”—Tom Davenport, professor of information technology and management at Babson College, in The Washington Post.

On the other hand, they might be under-exaggerated. “I’m two feet deep in GenAI. The way I work has been disrupted quite heavily and the systems are not even connected yet.”—Guillaume Alexandre, a technical sourcer for Meta based in France, who deemed the WEF job churn estimates conservative in a LinkedIn post.

Getting ahead of the curve. “As people leaders, I think we’re going to need to spend the next few months and years honing…our research skills to understand the potential of these tools and how they intersect with business.”—Marnie Robbins, a fractional people operations consultant, responding to a LinkedIn prompt on the WEF report.

Recruiting for the future. “The companies that have that kind of forward-vision radar for talent are able to succeed more than the companies that are flying blind.”—Erik Brynjolfsson, professor at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, told WEF.

Not everyone will upskill. “This is the hard part: I’m not sure we can up­skill every­one. I don’t think they’re go­ing to make it. It’ll take too long…There’s going to be a big shift in know-how in the company.”—Jim Far­ley, Ford CEO offering a blunt assessment of how new technologies will impact the workforce at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything festival.—CV