Global Studies Show Companies Use AI for Collaboration Not Automation

Global Studies Show Companies Use AI for Collaboration Not Automation

Artificial intelligence is changing how people work, rather than putting them out of a job, according to two studies released Thursday (July 23).

Google found in its inaugural AI & Economy ATLAS (Activity, Task, Landscape and Adoption Study) that while AI is used in 68% of occupations, it is used for only about 21% of tasks in a typical job, the company said in a Thursday blog post.

The study used 15 million aggregated and de-identified human-AI interactions across Google’s AI products and tools to determine how people are using the technology, according to the post.

The tasks for which AI is used tend to be part of a collaboration, rather than automation. Examples include ideation, strategy, information retrieval and learning. Less than 10% of AI work interactions fully automate tasks, per the post.

“Only 3% of occupations showed AI usage for over 75% of their tasks; these occupations include software quality assurance analysts and testers, human resources specialists and document management specialists,” the report said.

Another study released Thursday was commissioned by Switzerland-based talent and technology expertise company Adecco Group. It found that “AI is changing tasks faster than eliminating jobs,” Adecco Group said in a press release.

After three and a half years of ChatGPT being available, employment rates remain at record highs across 38 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and employment in jobs with exposure to AI remains stable. In addition, 1.9 million new AI-related jobs were created, according to the release.

Fewer than 10% of firms in the U.S. have integrated AI into their core workflows at scale. Where the technology has been deployed, it is reshaping tasks, workflows and skill requirements faster than it is eliminating entire occupations, per the release.

“The next phase of AI will be won by redesigning work — understanding what people should do, what AI agents can do, how skills are evolving and what skills will be needed in the future, and how value is created and measured,” Adecco Group CEO Denis Machuel said in the release.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Wage to Wallet™ Index: The Resilience Deficit: Labor Workers in an Automated Economy” found that AI and automation are moving beyond higher-paying jobs and into the Labor Economy.