Photo: Collected
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) may result in the full displacement of 7.9 million jobs from the United Kingdom's labor market and zero gross domestic product (GDP) increase in a "worst case scenario," the UK Institute for Public Policy Research said in a fresh report published on Wednesday (27 March).
"If generative AI was widely integrated across the economy, we estimate it could provide an economic boost of 13 per cent of GDP. At the other extreme, in our 'full displacement' scenario, 8 million jobs could be lost with no GDP gains. In between those two scenarios falls our central scenario where 4.4 million jobs disappear, but still with significant economic gains of about 6.4 per cent of GDP," the report read.
The research institute has projected full augmentation in the best case scenario when all jobs at risk are augmented to adapt to AI, instead of replaced, "leading to no job losses and an economic boost of 13 per cent to GDP," the report said.
The report stressed that there is "no one predetermined path" for how the integration of artificial intelligence may play out.
"Without government action and with companies left to their own devices, the worst-case scenario is a real possibility, the report also said.
However, AI deployment could free up labor to fill gaps "related to unaddressed social needs," including workers' reallocation to social care and mental health services that are currently under-resourced, the report added.
In January, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that every iteration of generative artificial intelligence raises the risk that over time the AI technology might affect the world in unintended ways. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the rise of AI technology could affect almost 40% of jobs around the world, transforming the global economy and potentially deepening inequality among nations and workers within countries.
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