Key channels for impacting productivity and the workforce.

AI can affect human labour and productivity in four main ways (figure II.1), often simultaneously, through the following channels: 

Substitute for human labour – AI can replace human workers in activities where machines are more efficient, extending the number of tasks in which machines have comparative advantages over humans and thereby displacing labour in favour of capital. For example, in the banking sector, instead of transactions being read manually, AI can monitor thousands of transactions simultaneously and detect anomalies and signs of fraud. 

Complement human labour – AI can augment human skills, to improve quality, efficiency and productivity, and provide advanced data analysis to support decision-making. In day-to-day business, AI can automate routine tasks such as proofreading documents, scheduling meetings and suggesting replies to emails. This can free up workers for tasks that benefit more from human attention. In medicine, the use of AI can help diagnose cancers and other diseases by analyzing electrocardiograms and computed radiography scans and finding abnormalities that might be undetectable by human staff. AI therefore serves as a useful tool that enhances human productivity while freeing workers to employ softer skills. Its use can also affect how people interact with and perceive one another, in both pro-social and antisocial ways.

 

Deepen automation – Artificial Intelligence (AI) can replace less-efficient technologies and deepen automation. For example, in customer service, GenAI chatbots can replace conventional rule-based chatbots, offering more personalized and accurate responses to inquiries, thereby improving a firm’s overall operating efficiency – total factor productivity – without undermining the workforce.

 Create new jobs – The use of AI can create new jobs, including roles in AI research and development, as well as in its deployment and maintenance. Its use can also create employment in emerging industries related to or created by AI. For example, one study identifies three emerging occupations, namely, AI trainers, who develop and upgrade AI models; AI explainers, who tailor AI models to particular use cases, such as AI-specific user experience designers; and AI sustainers, who monitor and refine AI uses, such as AI ethics experts.