Nearly 4,000 Americans they lost their jobs in May because they were replaced by artificial intelligence, the first time AI has been blamed for workers being unemployed, according to a report.
More than 80,000 jobs were cut in Mayaccording to analysis firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, which cited market and economic conditions, as well as mergers and acquisitions, as key factors.
Job losses due to AI
But about 3,900 of those jobs were lost due to AIthe firm said. The report’s results were first cited by Insider.
According to the report, around 417,500 jobs were lost between January and Maythe worst five-month start to a year since 2020. That was the year that saw the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which wiped out more than 1.4 million jobs across the country.
The recession sparked by the housing crisis more than a decade ago caused 820,000 layoffs at the beginning of 2009according to Challenger.
A Challenger spokesperson told this was the first time that AI was listed as one of the factors contributing to layoffs.
Bots fault?
The rapid advancement in AI research and the breakneck speed at which engineers have developed AI-powered bots like ChatGPT hasThey have stoked fears that they could make humans obsolete in knowledge-based industries.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs issued a report predicting that AI-powered bots could affect up to 300 million jobs around the world.
The Wall Street investment banking giant warned that AI could represent a “significant disturbance” for the labor market.
predictions
Goldman Sachs predicted that AI could automate two-thirds of jobs in the US and Europe to some degree.
In the US, “of those occupations that are exposed, most have a significant, but partial, part of their workload (25-50%) that can be replaced,” according to the report.quoted by CNBC.
Artificial intelligence experts also warned that new technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
OpenAI chief Sam Altman, whose firm created ChatGPT, and “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton they were among more than 350 prominent figures who see AI as an existential threataccording to the open letter from a prayer hosted by the nonprofit Center for AI Security.