work

Over half of Americans fear ‘major impact’ by AI on workers: Survey

More respondents said AI will “hurt” American workers more than it will “help” them over the next 20 years.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Americans think implementing artificial intelligence in the workplace will have a “major impact” on American workers within the next 20 years, leaving many employees “wary” and “worried” about what their future holds.

An April 20 Pew Research report found 56% of the 11,004 adults surveyed in the United States said that AI would have a major impact on the U.S. economy as well. Another 22% believed AI will impact the economy to a minor degree.

Only 13% of participants believed “AI will help more than hurt” American workers, whereas 32% thought the opposite. The rest of the participants predicted “AI will equally help and hurt” American employees (32%) or were unsure (22%).

While 62% of Americans believe AI will have a major impact on workers generally, just 28% believe its use in the workplace will have a major effect on them personally. https://t.co/ExpDNlOsWl pic.twitter.com/biMSX1AUln

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) April 20, 2023

The study didn’t directly ask participants whether they thought they would lose employment to AI but many respondents cited worry that an AI-enabled workplace would lead to increased surveillance, data mismanagement and misinterpretations.

Pew Research said there is a “consensus” that many American workers feel like they would be watched “Big Brother” style, with 81% citing the concern.

Most respondents (71%) said they oppose the idea of AI being used to help make a final decision in the hiring process.

Nearly two-thirds said they would be most bothered by AI tracking their minute-to-minute movements, and around half cited potential frustrations around an AI keeping track of how many hours they’re at their desk and recording exactly what they’re working on.

*For every participant that was in favor of AI being used in the hiring process, 10 opposed it. Source: Pew Research*

Just under 40% cited concern that AI would be used to evaluate their performance.

Despite the mixed views on what AI would offer to the workforce, two-thirds of respondents said they wouldn’t want to apply for a job where AI was used to make hiring decisions.

One surveyed man in his 60s explained that AI shouldn’t be used for that purpose because it can’t judge character:

“AI can’t factor in the unquantifiable intangibles that make someone a good co-worker … or a bad co-worker. Personality traits like patience, compassion and kindness would be overlooked or undervalued.”

“It’s a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ problem,” another surveyed woman explained.

Not everyone agreed though, as a man in his 50s explained AI has the potential to fill the shoes of a hiring manager:

“I think the AI would be able to evaluate all my skills and experience in their entirety where a human may focus just on what the job requires. The AI would see beyond the present and see my potential over time.”

Just under half of the participants said AI would treat all applicants in the same way “better” than what hiring managers do, while 15% said AI would be “worse.” Under 15% said the treatment would be “about the same.”

Those surveyed who claimed AI would lead to “better” treatment explained the technology would help circumvent biases and discrimination based on age, gender and race.

Others believed AI may reinforce the same prejudices that companies are trying to eradicate.

The motivation to carry out the study was partly prompted by what Pew Research describes as the “rapid rise of ChatGPT” — an AI chatbot released by OpenAI on Nov. 30.

Magazine: NFT Creator, Emily Xie: Creating ‘organic’ generative art from robotic algorithms

Remote work triggers move to DAOs in the post-pandemic world: Survey

A survey from a sample of the general U.S. public suggests that millennials are more likely to join a DAO than any other age group.

A survey sample of working Americans suggests that millennial and Generation Z workers are far more in favor of joining decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and working remotely in the post-Covid-19 world.

Over 1,100 Americans took part in a survey conducted by MetisDAO Foundation which explores trends in remote working preferences and the emergence of DAOs in recent years. A key consideration is the effect that Covid-19 has had on worker sentiment and the growth of DAOs in corporate governance.

Citing a research report on DAOs published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the results of the survey highlight how DAOs saw their treasuries swell from $400 million to $16 billion in 2021.

This coincided with growing participant figures, up from 13,000 to 1.6 million people during the same period. Drawing comparisons to some of the largest multinational corporations, global DAO workforce numbers are equal to one Amazon, 18 Facebooks, seven Microsofts or 11 Google.

The impact of Covid-19 is a primary driver of Metis’ report investigating workers readiness for decentralized employment opportunities. The unexpected, rapid shift to remote working conditions of the pandemic has seemingly driven knowledge and understanding of DAOs and decentralized autonomous companies (DAC), particularly among millennial and generation Z workers.

A major takeaway from the results is that nearly 75% of respondents believe that companies will need to adapt how they run their businesses to offer more remote work options. Millennials working in hybrid or remote settings offered the most positive responses on how DACs offer workers opportunities to help govern a company.

47% of the respondents also indicated that they would be open to working for a DAO or DAC as a contracted employee. The survey also indicates that millennial workers are more willing to work for a DAO or DAC than any other age group.

Meanwhile, Gen Z respondents most accurately defined a DAO compared to respondents from other age groups and a majority of Gen Z participants also defined DAOs as ‘revolutionary movement changing the future of work’.

MetisDAO concludes by highlighting the influence of prolonged remote working conditions driving the desire for more decentralized and autonomous work environments.

“The survey results show that a majority of respondents seek all of the things that DACs provide; remote work opportunities, independence from management, and influence over the organizations they work in.”

MetisDAO’s survey came from a sample of 1112 respondents through SurveyMonkey in November 2022. The DAO forms part of Metis, an Ethereum layer-2 rollup solution.