New AI may threaten 'safe' office jobs, say researchers _ BBC News

Humans already work alongside robots in industries such as manufacturing.

Now, for knowledge workers, the threat of AI (artificial intelligence) replacement is coming faster than they imagined.

In early 2023, OpenAI's ChatGPT ushered in a new era – one in which AI went from a pipe dream to a very real, contentious issue for workers.

The stakes are high: an April report from Goldman Sachs estimates ChatGPT, and other similar generative AI tools, could increase global GDP by as much as 7%, while replacing 300 million full time workers.

Yet the light-speed adoption and evolution of generative AI tools may now mean knowledge-work jobs that were long considered "safe" could be threatened even faster than workers anticipated.

That includes creative positions that many presumed would be hard to automate, in fields like marketing, music production and graphic design.

Accordingly, researchers have found that the "exposure curve is upward-sloping", says Mark Muro, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, who focuses on the interplay of technology, people and places.