An Artificial Intelligence bus is hurtling down our information superhighway and employees will be the casualties.

There’s an Artificial Intelligence bus hurtling down our information superhighway and employees are being thrown under that people transporter. And those on board are shareholders invested in companies smart enough to be embracing this rapidly moving technology.

This has to be the only sensible conclusion after reading the conclusions of the PwC Global Survey that also heralded a pretty positive view from local CEOs on the important driver of share prices — profit!

Because economics can be a zero sum game, where winners gain at the expense of others, the outlook for workers generally isn’t as rosy, as they have a rival in town that’s on a growth spurt. I            t’s called AI. Interestingly, it comes as the work-from-home trend has become increasingly entrenched, with the Victorian Government proposing this year to mandate in law the right for many workers to have two days working from home in their engagement agreements.

Only yesterday I wrote a piece for The Switzer Report under the headline: “Is CSL a dud or deliverer?” Significantly, chairman Brian McNamee cited the work-from-home trend as a negative for the productivity coming out of the company’s research labs. By the way, the work coming out of those labs has explained why CSL until recently was seen as the best company in this country.

This chart below shows its spectacular growth and recent fall from grace. While all this fall hasn’t been because of workers enjoying employment from home, it is seen as a notable factor.

CSL

So, what did the PwC survey of CEO’s tell us? Check these observations out:

1. 90% of local CEOs were “moderately” or “extremely confident” of growth.
2. It was 73% for global CEOs.
3. 32% of local bosses said they’d reduce mid-career headcounts by 1929.
4. It was a 25% reduction for CEOs elsewhere.
5. For both groups, 50% of CEOs saw junior jobs shrinking.
6. AI isn’t set to over-threaten senior jobs, with the job losses expected to be around 11%.
7. Despite the big plans based on investing in AI, only 14% of CEOs say their company has generated profits because of the new technology, which was about half of what global CEOs were reporting.

On what workers should be training for, clearly it’s to be skilled with AI. Local CEOs can see a 28% uplift in demand for those with AI mastery. However, this is lower than overseas, where CEOs there see a 42% increase in their hiring of AI-enhanced employees.

The AFR’s Rachel Bolton interviewed Kyle Daigle, chief operating officer and interim CEO at AI tech giant GitHub, who looked at the job threat with AI. “I joke that AI isn’t going to take your job – but your intern might. Honestly though, breakthroughs don’t happen when one generation replaces another. This new generation will have the ‘how’, but not yet the ‘why’ or the ‘where’. That comes from decades of institutional knowledge held by today’s mid-career professionals.”

The threat to jobs could be slower than CEOs think, which means the AI bus might have a speed limit on it. But it’s coming and inflexible old-world workers should look out for big, faster moving vehicles!

This is bad news for workers but good news for shareholders down the track.