UK facing 'sliding doors' moment with generative AI, millions of jobs at risk
Government urged to ensure fair industrial strategy as AI threatens huge job losses.
A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warns that as many as 8 million jobs in the UK could be lost to artificial intelligence (AI) automation in a worst-case scenario. The analysis identifies two waves of generative AI adoption posing major workforce disruption risks.
In the current first wave, back office, entry-level, and part-time roles like secretarial, customer service, and administrative positions face the highest threats, disproportionately impacting women, youth, and lower-wage workers.
The forthcoming second wave could see up to 59% of employee tasks become vulnerable to AI replacement without intervention. This worst outcome could mean 7.9 million job losses with no GDP gains.
However, the IPPR outlines a best-case path where retraining allows augmenting human labour with AI instead, potentially boosting GDP by 13% or £306 billion annually.
The report urges the government to pursue a "job-centric industrial strategy" with incentives for AI workforce training and regulations ensuring human oversight in critical sectors like healthcare.
While £290 million has been committed since 2018 to future skills initiatives, and £90 million for new AI research hubs was recently announced, a government spokesperson deemed the predicted job loss figures "hugely speculative."
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