Is AI just hype? This report claims bots like Microsoft Copilot aren’t replacing humans, increasing wages, or even saving time

by

As a keen observer of technological advancements, I can’t help but notice the profound impact Generative AI is making as it becomes increasingly widespread within various organizations. While the benefits are undeniable, there’s no denying that this revolutionary technology has sparked unease among professionals, not just about privacy and security matters, but also about their future employment prospects.

Tech visionaries, such as Microsoft co-creator Bill Gates, foresee that AI may take over many jobs. Nevertheless, Gates humorously suggests that we’ll get to keep cherished tasks for ourselves, using the example of computers not being capable of enjoying a game of baseball like humans do.

On the other hand, there’s also some good news: Based on Microsoft’s recent Work Trend Index, many businesses are adopting generative AI in their processes, allowing them to streamline repetitive tasks and thus giving employees more opportunities to concentrate on significant matters.

Remarkably, a recent study by the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics suggests that chatbots like Google’s Gemini AI, ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot may not significantly affect wages or job numbers (as reported by TechRadar).

Are “Large Language Models” making no impact?

According to the report:

AI chatbots are extensively utilized today, offering convenience by saving time for users and even generating new job roles, particularly in work environments that embrace them. However, their influence on the broader labor market is still relatively modest.

It’s important to point out that this research was conducted using information gathered from around 25,000 employees in Denmark who worked in various jobs that involve artificial intelligence (AI). The study’s results suggest that even though AI technology has been integrated into the workplace, it hasn’t led to any substantial increases in income or work hours as of yet.

It appears that even though businesses are rapidly increasing their AI investments (from 47% to 83%), a recent study suggests that the use of AI tools hasn’t resulted in substantial improvements in employee productivity so far. The study indicates that these tools only save about 2.8% of an employee’s work time, which equates to roughly one hour in a standard 40-hour work week.

In essence, the report argues that AI has introduced additional responsibilities for approximately 8.4% of workers in various positions such as overseeing AI-assisted fraud detection, developing prompts, and editing AI-generated content. These new tasks contribute to their already substantial workload.

It’s worth noting that the study suggested these roles often led to increased workloads. However, the time saved from these tasks resulted in increased income less than 10% of the time (specifically, between 3-7%).

It’s not unprecedented for a report to challenge the anticipated influence of AI on our society. In fact, last year, another report hinted that a relatively small number of people are utilizing systems similar to ChatGPT, implying that the excitement surrounding it might be more hype than genuine public fascination.

Read More

2025-05-01 12:09