New research shows AI driving labour demand, expanding skill requirements
The adoption of artificial intelligence tools is driving demand for workers and expanding skill requirements, according to a new study, which allayed concerns that the technology will replace human employees.
Researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) recently looked at trends between 2020 and 2023 to determine the labour impact of AI tools on employment.
It found that AI-adopting firms posted 36% more non-AI job ads over time than non-adopting firms, indicating that demand for workers in these companies went up.
Job ads from AI-adopting firms also started listing more skills over time, with the impact most evident in AI-exposed roles.
The findings were surprising and offer reassurance for those with concerns about AI's impact on the labour market, said Claire Mason, lead author of the study,in a statement.
Previous research and experts have warned that AI tools will have a significant impact on the labour market, including theerasure of entry-level rolesas the technology takes over some of their tasks.
But the CSIRO study said that AI-exposed roles are often professional and knowledge-intensive ones, such as lawyers, accountants, and analysts, instead of positions with manual or routine work.
These are highly skilled, often well-paid roles. They're the occupations people often worry about when we talk about AI, said Mason, who is also the lead of the Workforce and Productivity research team at CSIRO.
And these AI-exposed rolesdid not see a decline in demandin firms that adopted AI. Instead, the slight dip for AI-exposed workers happened in firms that were not adopting the technology.
That suggests AI-exposed workers may be disadvantaged if they're in firms that aren't using AI. Their peers in AI-adopting firms are potentially more competitive because they're able to use these tools to augment their work, Mason said.
Reflection of current AI impact
CSIRO's research looked into trends between 2020 and 2023, before generative AI became widely used in organisations.
But the government agency said the findings show how Australian workplaces can respond when AI is adopted, noting that more recent Australian labour market data are demonstrating similar patterns.
Even with widespread adoption of new generative AI tools, occupations that are highly exposed to AI continue to be in strong demand, Mason said.
Rather than sudden disruption, the study suggests jobs are evolving incrementally. Tasks are being redistributed, skill sets broadened, and roles expanded – without the role itself disappearing.
Mason also underscored that humans still have a competitive advantage over AI, which is not sentient and cannot reflect on its own thinking.
The future of work includes human workers with inherently human skills, embracing technology like AI. It's the trend we've seen with every wave of technological disruption. Technology creates new opportunities, she said.
We must not shy away from this technology. What we're actually seeing is that the firms and the people who are embracing AI and using it intelligently are doing better as a result.
