Sam Altman has said that artificial intelligence is unlikely to create a worldwide jobs crisis as many experts once feared. Speaking during a conference hosted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney Altman explained that AI has not replaced as many white collar jobs as he expected.
Altman admitted that he was previously worried AI could quickly remove many entry level office jobs. However he now believes the impact has been slower and smaller than expected.
He said he was happy his earlier predictions were wrong and explained that people still value real human communication in workplaces. According to Altman many jobs include a human element that AI cannot fully replace.
The OpenAI chief shared his own experience of using AI to answer Slack and email messages. Although the system worked well he later returned to replying to some messages himself because personal interaction remained important.
Altman said this experience changed his understanding of how AI will affect employment in the future. He now believes the job market will change over time but not in the extreme way some technology leaders have predicted.
At the same time several major companies including Amazon and HSBC have already started using AI systems to replace some workplace tasks and reduce manual work.
OpenAI is also reportedly preparing for a future public stock market listing in the United States as the company continues to grow rapidly in the global AI industry.
