As generative artificial intelligence invades the workplace, employees must adapt and develop proficiency in it or risk losing out. — Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash
You are not alone if you’re worried about job security in a world where generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including free ones, are able to produce creative content, write programming code and create art.
In the Global Workforce Hopes And Fears Survey 2022 by PwC, involving 52,000 workers in 44 countries, including Malaysia, 30% of respondents said they were concerned about the prospects of having their role replaced by technology in the next three years.
This concern is more prevalent among Gen Z workers (38% were worried) than among baby boomers (19%).
News headlines have also exacerbated the anxiety among workers – recently, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said he plans on putting a pause on hiring some 7,800 positions that could be taken over by AI.
“I could easily see 30% of that (jobs in human resources or non-customer-facing roles) getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period,” he told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, British telecommunications company BT plans to eliminate up to 55,000 positions by the end of the decade in an effort to replace one-fifth of workers in the customer service line with automated systems.
Chief executive Philip Jansen said in a BBC report that he is confident that AI will improve services by making them faster and more seamless, to the point that customers won’t feel like they are dealing with robots.
Closer to home, 1,000 workers were interviewed between Feb 1 and March 14 by Microsoft for the Work Trend Index 2023.
Raman said that Microsoft is in talks with the government to develop an ethical AI framework. — Microsoft Malaysia
K. Raman, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, summed up the report, saying, “Based on the survey, we can see that 62% of Malaysians are worried that AI will replace them at their jobs.
“But at the same time, 84% of people said they would delegate as much as possible to AI to lessen their workloads.”
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed claimed that they were unable to devote enough time or energy to the creative and strategic aspects of their work.
For instance, 57% of the time spent on the productivity platform Microsoft 365 was used for communication instead of producing work.
This was due to workers spending more time attending meetings (23%), answering work-related communications via chat (19%) and writing or replying to emails (15%).
On average, workers spent 8.8 hours per week on email and 7.5 hours per week in meetings.
“These people believe they are struggling because of the time spent on the drudgery of work such as managing information and clearing information versus doing the more strategic parts of their work,” said Raman.
One of the top disruptors of productivity was inefficient meetings, where employees spent a lot of time for little to no benefit.
Workers found virtual meetings particularly difficult, with more than 50% saying that they find it challenging to brainstorm; get up to speed if they join late, resulting in feeling unclear over the next steps; and find it hard to summarise the gist of the meeting.
“We also note that there are more meetings happening today as people are attending three times more meetings via Microsoft Teams since the pandemic (February 2020).
“It’s becoming clear that people need to have the ability to separate the signal from the noise.
“For example, if you’re attending meetings, what are the important signals that you’re getting from this meeting? It should be action-oriented, like knowing what the next step is moving forward for you,” Raman said.
Programmed copilot
The study also revealed that 89% of workers in Malaysia are comfortable using AI for analytical work. They also want to use AI to find information and answers (86%), perform administrative tasks (84%) and handle creative work (84%).
“So you’re starting to see that people are being more receptive to using AI to get work done, beyond just the repetitive work,” Raman added.
In the Global Workforce Hopes And Fears Survey 2022 by PwC, involving 52,000 workers in 44 countries, including Malaysia, 30% of respondents said they were concerned about the prospects of having their role replaced by technology in the next three years. — Image by ArtPhoto_studio on Freepik
Business leaders or employers are also more likely to use AI to help increase productivity (32%), than to reduce headcount (23%), though the rate for the latter is increasing.
“We’ve encouraged them to form a dedicated AI team or AI champions – people who are knowledgeable about AI – and to start looking at the adoption of AI in specific areas,” said Raman.
Tech giants, including Microsoft, have started integrating generative AI tools into their productivity apps.
In March, Microsoft introduced Copilot, which can help a user generate, for example, a draft for a proposal on Word or a presentation on PowerPoint. There are also plans to integrate the AI Dall-E into PowerPoint so users can ask CoPilot to design custom art.
Raman said even when it comes to email, it may be a laborious process, especially when messaging a superior.
“With bosses, you have to make sure the tone is correct. It could be a career-limiting move if you write or say the wrong things.
“Today, when you have an email to reply to, you can ask Copilot to help you draft and see how it sounds when you select different tones.
“Then you add your own touches when finalising the email,” he said.
Deepa George, managing consultant at MYHRC Services, which provides human resource training and consultancy to organisations, sees the potential for generative AI at work to level the playing field in written communication.
According to George, those who struggle with language on paper can improve their written communication skills with AI. — DEEPA GEORGE
“We often see how people who can articulate things well are able to represent themselves at work better.
“With generative AI tools, those who may struggle with language on paper can improve their written communication skills, so we can expect to see an increase in language competence,” she said.
It’s also helpful as a research tool, as it could be used to simplify hard-to-understand topics.
“A popular prompt I’ve seen being used widely is ‘Explain it to me like a five-year-old ...’,” said George.
However, supervisors will have a tougher time assessing the quality of the work of subordinates and will have to use a more rigorous process.
“Once people level up (with generative AI), there is less differentiation. Whether it’s creative work or website building, they need to be able to see how much of the content is generated by the person vs the AI tool,” she said.
This is also the case when it comes to cover letters and resumes, as more people will be relying on AI to create better copies.
George said this will require interviewers to use behavioural-based techniques to get a more accurate assessment of the candidate.
“They will have to tailor discussions around the candidates’ past experiences and use those discussions to re-evaluate the candidate during reference checks,” she says, adding that it’s akin to a lie detector test.
Human factor
Most companies in the region are planning to forge ahead with generative AI, according to a survey released last month by IDC.
In the report, 38% of organisations in Asia Pacific said they have started initial exploration into potential use cases, 32% said they are committed to investing in generative AI technologies this year, and the remaining 30% said they have yet to do anything.
Knowledge management was identified as the most promising use case for AI, as organisations believe it can make searching for information across different types of documents, images, and other formats easier.
“Generative AI has the potential to reimagine the organisational landscape in a completely new way.
“However, the inherent complexities and risks around implementing the same needs have to be carefully assessed.
Deepika says generative AI is largely in its early stages as vendors are unable to fully address issues such as privacy, security, accuracy, copyright, and bias. — IDC
“Generative AI technology is also largely in its early stages, as vendors are unable to fully address the privacy, security, accuracy, copyright, bias, and misuse concerns around this groundbreaking technology,” said Deepika Giri, head of research for big data and AI at IDC Asia Pacific, in a statement.
The report also stated that regulatory bodies around the world are under pressure to address concerns over the use of generative AI.
Raman shared that Microsoft is in talks with the government to develop an ethical AI framework.
“In Malaysia, we are starting to work with the likes of those such as the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry. Conversations are happening today about responsible AI,” he claimed.
He said that while people may use AI to come up with recommendations to guide them through various aspects of work, ultimately the human element is still vital in making ethical and responsible decisions.
He expects the use of AI to have an impact on jobs with repetitive tasks, but he is also optimistic that the technology will create new jobs and other opportunities as well.
“History has taught us that every time new technology arrives, people will adapt and learn to upscale themselves.
“Most importantly, you can see that there are company leaders who want to use generative AI to empower their employees and make them more productive,” he said.
George believes AI has the potential to change work processes in creative writing or content creation, but believes the use of it may be limited in routine- based processes such as finance.
“You (as the employer) can go all the way with introducing an AI champion at work, but you also need to start by having conversations with your workers.
“I sense that people may be fearful if they think AI is going to replace their roles at work.
“I don’t think AI can replace all aspects of a person’s job, but it may affect people who don’t use AI in their role,” said George.
Her recommendation is to first consider how AI could be used in a person’s field of expertise to improve productivity, and then to put that AI through its paces to see how well it performs in answering questions about related subjects.
“It’s to help them build confidence and familiarity around using AI tools ... that will make them go, ‘Hey, I knew that already!’
“Test the tool to see if it’s aware of what you already know. Employees should not be fearful or shy away,” she said.
In Microsoft’s report, 90% of leaders in Malaysia said employees will need new skills to prepare for AI.
The qualities highlighted as necessary include a positive attitude towards AI, such as practising how to come up with prompts and learning to verify or fact-check AI-generated content.
“In this new era of AI, the ability to ask the right questions or write great prompts would be crucial,” said Raman.
“The more intelligent you are in the way you ask the questions, the more insights you will be able to gain.
“They also need to have the flexibility to rethink work, such as redesigning work flows to use AI. The data is clear. As work evolves with AI, there is also a need for us to adapt.”
