UK Adults Fear AI’s Impact on Jobs, Poll Reveals
A recent poll has found that half of all UK adults are concerned about the future of their jobs due to artificial intelligence, with many fearing their roles could be replaced or significantly altered.
The survey, commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), highlights growing anxieties as major employers begin to link AI adoption to potential job cuts, The Guardian reported.
According to the TUC poll of 2,600 adults, 51% expressed concern about AI’s effect on their employment. This worry is most pronounced among young workers, with nearly two-thirds of those aged 25 to 34 reporting fears. The poll was released as a number of large companies, including BT, Amazon, and Microsoft, have hinted that advances in AI could lead to a reduction in their workforces.
This growing apprehension coincides with a general cooling of the UK job market. The nation’s official jobless rate has reached a four-year high of 4.7%, though most economists do not believe this is a direct result of increased investment in AI.
The TUC’s assistant general secretary, Kate Bell, emphasized the transformative potential of AI but warned of a “bleak alternative” if it is left unmanaged. She stated that without proper oversight, the “AI revolution could entrench rampant inequality as jobs are degraded or displaced.”
In response, the TUC is advocating for a new approach to technology. They are urging the government to ensure that workers are placed at the heart of AI innovation by having a say in how the technology is used in workplaces. The union also calls for companies to invest in workforce skills and training and for workers to receive a “digital dividend” from the productivity gains of AI.
A separate analysis by the Tony Blair Institute last year projected that AI could displace between one million and three million private sector jobs in the coming decades, although this figure would be offset by growth in new tech roles. The Institute’s analysis suggested that at the peak of disruption, between 60,000 and 275,000 jobs would be displaced annually, a figure they described as “relatively modest” compared to the average of 450,000 annual job losses recorded over the past decade in the UK.
