Artificial Intelligence could replace 300 million jobs, claims Goldman Sachs report

At the speed, at which the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is being witnessed, it has the potential to significantly disrupt labour markets globally. And this has been claimed in the research done by Goldman Sachs.

The rise of artificial intelligence could put 300 million jobs at risk, says a new report from Goldman Sachs. The research noted that two-thirds of employment in the United States and Europe could be partially automated, predicting "significant disruption" to the work market. According to the study published, "of those occupations which are exposed, the majority have a significant — but partial — share of their workload (25-50%) that can be replaced."

While AI may have an impact on the employment market, it could ultimately increase global GDP by up to 7%. According to the study, generative AI systems like ChatGPT could lead to a productivity boom over the following ten years because they can produce material that is strikingly identical to that produced by humans. 

And while the Goldman Sachs study claims that AI could replace 300 million jobs, history shows that technological advancement also generates new employment while also eliminating some positions.

According to the Goldman Sachs study, AI may have a particularly negative impact on some occupations. Physically demanding jobs, for instance, are probably not in danger. On the other hand, office and administrative support jobs have the highest percentage of tasks that can be automated at 46% - which puts them more at risk on being replaced by AI.

37% of duties in design and engineering and 44% of tasks in the law industry can be mechanised. The business and finance operations sector has 35% duties that can be automated with AI, closely followed by the biological, physical, and social sciences sector at 36%. 

Although the size of AI’s impact will ultimately depend on its capability and adoption timeline, both remain uncertain at this point.