Teaching employees to use AI could add up to $6.6T to US economy

Dive Brief:

• Augmenting jobs with artificial intelligence and upskilling employees, instead of replacing workers, could add between $4.8 trillion and $6.6 trillion to the U.S. economy by 2034, roughly 15% of current U.S. GDP at the lower range, according to new research released Jan. 19 from education company Pearson.
• However, the report found that while companies were “investing billions worldwide on AI infrastructure and models,” there were “few positive examples of enterprise-level productivity gains, outside of coding, that truly help workers and drive ROI,” per a news release, which added that the return on AI investment usually targets replacing workers.
• AI has reached more than one billion users in only three years, per the release. Yet the technology is taking “a growing emotional and economic toll” on workers, who fear losing their jobs and their competitive edge without training accompanying their adoption.

Dive Insight:

The report, which was released during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, said that employers “risk missing the productivity prize” by focusing on technology deployment while neglecting the human element. Citing data from the World Economic Forum, Pearson said in the release that 59% of the global workforce will need reskilling by 2030.

While many employees reported time saved through AI, a broader economic uplift hasn’t yet occurred, per the release. Pearson’s report identified what it called a critical “learning gap,” and said there is “a missing link” that prevents both employers and workers from fully realizing AI’s potential.

“AI will drive profound long-term change to business and industry,” Pearson CEO Omar Abbosh said in a news release. “But leaders are under pressure to rapidly adopt AI and demonstrate a return on that investment, all while bringing worried employees along with this seismic shift. Every positive scenario for this AI-enabled future is built on human development.”

Abbosh added that the biggest obstacle to AI adoption is “the lack of human skills to work alongside these technologies,” and said addressing this issue could “support workers, boost their confidence with new technology, and drive the ROI outcomes that businesses want.”

Meanwhile, an October report from Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll found that although 72% of hiring managers said their companies are using AI, more than half also said their organizations don’t have the resources to train their employees how to use it effectively.