Big Tech joins forces to show how AI might affect workers

Concerns about layoffs grow more urgent as legislation is discussed.

As artificial intelligence continues to envelop the tech industry, debates about how it will affect workers and the economy are ramping up. Big Tech companies that are investing heavily in the technology, including Google and

Microsoft, are forming a group to study how artificial intelligence might affect 56 unspecified types of technology jobs.

The group, led by telecommunications equipment maker Cisco, also includes IBM, chip maker Intel, business software company SAP and tech consultant Accenture. Unions including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) are listed as “advisers.”

The rise of generative AI, like chatbots and image generators, has shaken the tech industry — with many companies diving headlong into the tech, designing artificial intelligence tools and causing executives to promise investors that the advancements will revolutionize the world. Longheld concerns about AI taking away jobs from humans have grown more urgent as lawmakers debate how to legislate the tech.

Some people who write for a living have already lost their jobs as companies turn to chatbots for advertising or social media copy. Hollywood writers won protections against being forced to work with AI-generated material as part of their new union contract last year. Many computer coders say they use AI to generate code, helping them move faster.

A study released in 2023 by the Pew Research Center said around 20% of American employees are in jobs with “high exposure” to AI, such as tax preparers, copywriters and web developers.

The group said in its statement it will focus on producing a report with “actionable insights for business leaders and workers.” Cisco, Google, Microsoft, CWA and AFLCIO did not respond to requests for more information.

Many AI company executives shrug off concerns about job losses. They say the tech might replace some jobs, but it will make workers more efficient by taking away drudge work like reading long documents or sorting through databases.