AI has entered the workforce, but as an aid, not a replacement

Microsoft and LinkedIn have released their 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report earlier this month. The index centers around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace — and for good reason. This latest technological advancement has sparked many debates, including the ever-present question that emerges each time new technologies are unveiled: is this going to take my job?

The report doesn’t think so. 

Bring your AI to work

AI is already present at work, and is brought in by employees. 3 out of 4 workers are presently using AI at work. The most common reasons cited is that AI helps workers save time, focus on important tasks, and be more creative. 

Michael Platt, a neuroscientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, explained why AI aids productivity. “These findings align perfectly with how our brains manage the trade-offs between routine task execution and innovation — different kinds of thinking supported by two distinct but interacting neural networks in the brain. When we’re constantly switching, we don’t work as well. AI can help liberate workers from menial work and enable innovation and creativity to flourish.”

Additionally, the work that employees have to do has accelerated more than they can keep up, further motivating them to use AI tools to keep up. 

While some may intuitively believe that the high proportion of AI adoption only exists in younger generations, this is not true. Employees across every age group are using AI at work.

Employees often use their own AI tools as their companies do not provide any. However, around half of the employees who use AI are reluctant to admit that they do so, worrying that admitting so will make them look replaceable. Using their own AI tools makes it easier for employees to obscure their usage.

AI as a tool

But AI can pose a threat to companies. Giving private company data to unaffiliated AI tools puts that data at risk. 

AI is a neutral tool, just as how a computer is, but when utilised maliciously, or even just incorrectly, the results can be harmful. Last year, a pair of lawyers submitted a legal brief crafted with an AI chatbot, ChatGPT — a legal brief that included fictitious case citations. 

In the next five years, around half of the surveyed leaders plan to ensure that ethical use of AI will be a core part of their job. 

Karim R. Lakhani, Chair, Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, and Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, said, “we’re at the forefront of integrating AI to not just work faster, but to work smarter. It’s our responsibility as organizational leaders to ensure that this technology elevates our teams’ creativity and aligns with our ethical values.”

The value of AI proficiency

The usefulness of AI presents an opportunity for those willing to learn how to use AI. 

Leaders are now turning their attention to non-technical talent with AI skills. 66% of leaders say that they wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills, and 71% say they would hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills, instead of a more experienced candidate without them.

Furthermore, junior candidates who are savvy with AI will be given greater responsibilities, and thus more opportunities within their companies. 

However, despite acknowledging the importance of AI skills, very few companies are investing in AI for their employees, from the tools themselves to training their employees on how to use them. Half of US executives are not investing in AI tools or products for their employees, and only 39% of people who use AI at work received AI training from their company. 

Employees thus learn AI skills by themselves. The use of LinkedIn Learning courses aimed to increase AI proficiency has spiked 160% among non-technical professionals. 

According to the report, “These are signs that AI could be a rising tide that elevates skills across roles and industries. Entry-level workers will take on more strategic projects, while uniquely human skills like management, relationship building, negotiation, and critical thinking will come to the fore for employees at all levels. Organisations that understand this will retain and attract the best talent, and professionals who skill up will have the edge.”

Looking forward

The report discusses the rise of the power user, people who use AI multiple times a week, and are familiar with it. Power users believe that AI saves them more than 30 minutes a day. 

These users have reoriented their work patterns to incorporate AI. They mostly use AI to catch up on missed meetings, analyse information, design visual content, and interact with customers. Resultantly, over 90% of power users claim that AI helps them focus on the most important work, makes their overwhelming workload more manageable, and boosts their creativity. Resultantly, power users also get more support and positive attention from their company. 

The report believes that examining AI power users reveals what is possible when employees embrace the use of AI. It advises leaders to channel the enthusiasm that individuals have for AI to transform their businesses.

The transformative nature of AI is repeatedly emphasised, in how it can supplement people’s jobs instead of replace them. Instead of replacing jobs, AI is transforming them, similar to the computer — while the computer replaced several jobs and changed the nature of even more, it also created new fields. The popularity of certain jobs on LinkedIn reflects this notion: 68% of this year’s fastest-growing roles didn’t exist 20 years ago. 

The Microsoft report supports an increased adoption of AI into the workforce in order for companies to remain ahead of the curve. Simultaneously, it cautions companies against wantonly applying AI to their every function. To maximise the benefits of AI, organisations should identify specific process that AI can be applied to, engage employees at every level of the organisation in experimentation and adoption, and train employees to cultivate proficient AI users.

Within this reframing, AI appears to enter the workforce as a tool, instead of as a coworker.