Artificial intelligence is no longer a future disruption; it is already impacting daily work. According to a recent analysis by Goldman Sachs, as cited by The Times of India, AI could take over roughly 25% of the total work hours worldwide, thus creating a need for urgent discussion on the matter of jobs, skills, and economic adjustments.
Sachs did not predict mass job losses overnight; the estimate refers to work hours, not entire roles. Most such professions consist of multiple tasks. AI is anticipated to replace humans in performing tedious, repetitive, and data-intensive tasks; humans will move to work that is more valuable. In reality, a lot of sectors will be transformed before they are eradicated.
Office-based and knowledge-heavy roles sit at the center of the impact. Administrative work, customer support, legal research, finance operations, and parts of engineering and design show high automation potential. Generative AI is already capable of composing papers, conducting data analyses, programming, and contract management on a large scale.
However, job roles that demand physical presence, manual skills, or human decision-making, like construction, medical treatments, and vocational trades, are still fairly resistant to automation.
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The document indicates a shift in tasks and not in the workers. Past transitions, like from computers to the internet, reveal a similar trend. There will always be some functions that become obsolete; nonetheless, new positions and industries will emerge. Goldman Sachs predicts that the rise in productivity will, alongside the lifting of economic output, continue to cover the old types of work and eventually create new ones.
The move will not be easy and smooth for all. Those working in roles that are easy to automate are the ones most likely to feel the pressure and be forced to go through reskilling.
Thus, your training, education, and safety nets will have to be provided by both the government and the private sector. Whether societies will encounter a disruption or have an opportunity depends on the pace of AI adoption.
AI will not take over all jobs. However, it is set to rewrite how a quarter of global work hours are spent. The real risk lies not in automation itself, but in failing to adapt fast enough.