An OECD study has found that, so far, there is little evidence that artificial intelligence (AI) has reduced the number of jobs available or impacted wages.
The latest AI Intelligence Paper said AI was most used for automating “non-routine, cognitive tasks”.
Therefore, white collar occupations that required several years of formal training were most exposed to the technology changes.
So far occupations that relied on manual skills and strength, such as cleaners, labourers and food preparation assistants, tended to have low AI exposure.
“As a result, education is an important determinant of AI exposure,” the report said.
“Occupations highly exposed to AI not only have a large proportion of highly educated workers, but education also mediates the relation between AI exposure and other socio-demographic characteristics.”
The report said, while AI advances were emerging in fast succession, analysis of historical data “did not suggest that AI exposure has led to negative employment or wage outcomes on aggregate so far”.
“Some studies even suggest that AI exposure has been linked to positive outcomes and that these links have been stronger among more educated and higher-income workers, potentially deepening existing inequalities,” it said.
“New analysis reinforces the idea that there was a positive relationship between AI exposure and employment in the period from 2012 to 2022.”
The analysis found female and male workers faced roughly the same occupational exposure to AI overall.
Female employment growth was even higher than men’s in occupations highly exposed to AI.
“There is little to suggest that, so far, exposure to AI has led to different outcomes for different demographic groups in terms of usual working hours or wage growth,” the report said.
“Some groups have greater access to opportunities associated with AI, which could prevent the benefits of AI from being broadly and fairly shared.”
International data showed that male, university-educated and foreign-born workers tended to have more positive perceptions of AI.
They were more likely to say that AI had improved their productivity and working conditions, that AI would increase their wages in the future, and that they were enthusiastic to learn more about AI.
This group, along with younger workers, were also more likely to agree that technology had an overall positive impact on society.
The full report is on the OECD website
