The tech job market has witnessed significant volatility in the past few months. With the introduction of AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard and Bing, things have become even more challenging.
According to the latest report by Challenger, Gray and Christmas, artificial intelligence (AI) has been identified as the reason for almost 4,000 job losses in May this year. This number accounts for around 4.9 per cent of the total job cuts reported for the month. These job cuts are seen across sectors.
The report further added that a total of 80,089 job cuts occurred during May, with 3,900 of them directly linked to AI. The remaining job cuts were caused due to various factors like economic conditions, company restructuring, cost cutting, and mergers & acquisitions.
In 2023 thus far, 417,500 individuals lost their jobs, a 315% surge from the 100,694 job cuts announced in the same period last year. Except for 2020, it is the highest total in the first five months of the year since 2009, when 822,282 layoffs were recorded through May. In 2020, 1,414,828 job cuts were tracked in the first five months.
"We do believe Artificial Intelligence will cause more job loss, though we are surprised how quickly technology was cited as a reason," Andy Challenger, senior vice president of the multinational HR company, reported in Fortune magazine.
"It is incredible the speed the technology is evolving and being adapted," he added.
The increasing use of AI has raised concerns about the future of the job market. In March this year, Goldman Sachs released a report stating that AI could replace 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, affecting almost 20 per cent of the global workforce. One-fourth of all jobs in the US and Europe could be automated, the report said.
According to a survey conducted by Resumebuilder in February, certain companies in the United States have started using ChatGPT instead of human workers. The survey involved 1,000 business leaders, and half of the participating companies accepted that they were implementing ChatGPT, with the chatbot replacing employees within their organisations.
In March, ChatGPT creator Sam Altman also said in an interview that one job that could be replaced by ChatGPT was customer service.
