The rapid automation of millions of jobs through artificial intelligence could intensify economic inequality in the United Kingdom, unless the government goes with targeted support, according to a new study by the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW).
The three-year report showed that both companies and employees stand for broad challenges, from rising skills, to concern about job security and well-being, because AI-driven systems occur more often in factories, offices and the public sector.
Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Prize winner in the economy and the main author of the report, warned that despite the potential of AI to stimulate productivity and growth, ministers have to tackle the implications for employees. He asked how AI could promote productivity and prosperity without creating more intense stress and pressure, and how it could open new opportunities without widening existing gap throughout the country.
The IFOW investigated 5,000 employees and 1,000 companies and discovered a penetrating sense of fear, fear and uncertainty among employees with regard to the impact of AI. Although some large companies have established strategies to help employees adapt, smaller companies seem less equipped to navigate the coming wave of automation. The report argues that, without substantial intervention, work displacement and important changes in function roles, local economies and social structures.
Under his proposals, the IFOW recommends creating science centers inspired by the London Francis Crick Institute in Regional Cities, a movement aimed at preventing London and the Oxford-Cambridge arch to dominate biotech and other fast-growing fields. The authors also ask to bridge more decision-making power to local authorities and to strengthen the role of trade unions, including granting digital access, collective rights to information and new e-learning rolls. These measures would support employees during the AI revolution.
According to James Hayton, professor of innovation at the Warwick Business School and a contribution to the report, the impact on jobs, skills and work quality amounts to how AI is implemented. He believes that companies and managers play a crucial role in the introduction of AI in a way that improves the well -being of employees and overall productivity, instead of considering automation exclusively as a cost -saving measure. The report concludes that with well -considered governance and responsible deployment, AI could promote an inclusive labor market. However, a failure to act can aggravate social gap, limit the productivity gain and undermine the prospects of smaller companies and their employees.