At least a third of US companies to replace some workers with AI in 2024, survey finds
Jobs in customer support, research most likely to be impacted
“AI isn’t coming. It’s here.”
That’s the message one analyst is taking from a new survey that found one out of every three U.S. companies will replace at least some of their employees with artificial intelligence in 2024.
In a ResumeBuilder survey of 750 business leaders at companies that either currently use or plan to use AI in 2024, 37% of companies currently using AI say the technology replaced workers this year, while 44% of companies surveyed say AI will lead to layoffs in 2024.
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Of those companies, 21% said employees would definitely be laid off, while 23% said employees would probably be laid off due to the use of AI, according to the survey.
Overall, the vast majority (91%) of companies either using or planning to use AI in 2024 will hire new employees in the coming months, with an even greater number (96%) saying it will be either “very beneficial” or “somewhat beneficial” for candidates to have experience using AI.
Of those companies using or planning to start using AI in 2024, 83% said employees who have AI skills would “definitely” (45%) or “probably” (38%) have more job security at their company compared to those employees who do not have such skills.
Business leaders said they are using AI for customer support, research and creating summaries of meetings or documents, trends that the survey found are likely to continue into 2024.
“At the end of the day, employees need to realize that AI isn’t coming, it’s here. It’s time to embrace it if it may be a threat to your position or career path,” said ResumeBuilder’s resume and career strategist Julia Toothacre. “I would advise employees to consider all parts of their position and what could possibly be taken over by AI.”
Doing so should involve employees figuring out which aspects of their role are insulated from this AI “takeover,” or determining which areas will require human intervention so they can become the “go-to person” for such tasks.
“Employees need to find ways to grow their skills and stay relevant in their field if they don’t want their job to be given to AI,” she added.
The survey’s findings appeared to echo warnings from AI experts such as tech mogul Elon Musk, who said last week that the rapid advances in AI could prove to be “the most disruptive force in history.”
In a conversation with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park on Nov. 2, Musk warned AI would soon pave the way for a future in which working will be optional — which could prove to be both a blessing and a curse in itself.
"There will come a point where no job is needed,” he was quoted as saying. “You can have a job if you want one for personal satisfaction but AI will do everything.”
Musk has been among the most prominent voices warning about the advent of AI in everyday life: in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April, Musk revealed that Google co-founder Larry Page once told him he hoped to build an AI super-intelligence that Musk described as a “digital god.”
According to the 51-year-old Musk, the exchange occurred when he stayed at Page’s home in Palo Alto, California, when the two were “close friends.”
“I would talk to him late into the night about AI safety, and at least my perception was that Larry was not taking AI safety seriously enough,” Musk said, adding that Page wanted a “digital super-intelligence, basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible.”
