“Artificial intelligence will not replace us, it will complement us. It gives people new abilities and a perfect memory.” – Sebastian Thrun. As this successful American businessman stated, nowadays AI has firmly established itself as second to none of the tools for our tomorrow life as a human. MIT Sloan (2024) reports that productivity has increased by 15 percentage points to 40% as a result of automating routine tasks; however, this process is also accompanied by unintended consequences. The focus of this essay will not be these potential job losses, but instead analyze AI’s advantages and drawbacks, followed by providing this writer’s opinion.
Unemployment rates and job replacement have followed an upward trajectory. According to SEO.AI’s Content Team (2024), AI is expected to eliminate some 800 million jobs by 2030 as part of its overall economic impact of $15.7 trillion. Even though 14% of the workers are currently displaced by AI, the figures suggest that it could get worse and perfectly fit into broader global expectations about the transformative potential of AI. Consequently, it is anticipated that AI will contribute significantly to the increase in the unemployment rate today and shortly. Soon, hundreds of traditional jobs, such as taxi drivers, waiters, or receptionists, will be replaced almost entirely by robots, a clear warning that the concerns are indeed well-founded. Vietnam is also not an exception to this common trend; the International Labour Organization (2023) has reported that 20% of jobs in Vietnam are at risk of being replaced by AI and automation by 2030.
On the other hand, AI advancements are predicted to offer ample unparalleled opportunities. Indeed, demands for AI-related professionals (e.g., Machine Learning Engineers and Business Intelligence Developers) are becoming unprecedentedly high in today’s job market. Studies show that recruiters are willing to pay 36% more for those employees who have versatile AI abilities (VNEconomy, 2024) and that the mere requirement for AI engineering will expand to 30% in 2030 (McKinsey & Company, 2024). Regarding Vietnam, by 2030 the Vietnam labour market will need human resources of occupation relevant to AI to increase by 30%, equivalent to the world common trend (McKinsey & Company, 2024), and Vietnamese employers are willing to pay up to 32% higher wages for candidates applying new technologies such as AI on their work (PwC, 2024).
Overall, AI is becoming a mandatory gadget throughout the world. It is an acknowledgement of the fact that change is something that will always happen and with every innovation will come both positive and negative effects. This new reality will not prevent humans, characterised by resilience and adaptability from integrating such a kind of technologies into our lives – much like when the First Industrial Revolution saw machines take over manual tasks but also unlock entirely new job opportunities. AI, in much the same sense, can be a game changer or at least give an edge to enterprises that use it to their advantage. This means traditional educational programs will cease to exist, pressuring academic institutions to prepare students for deftly using the benefits of technology. As such, future policy will also have to involve more support measures like these and new job opportunities for workers who suffer as a result of AI being introduced in order to make the workforce transition more effective and help bring back those who are unemployed into the job market.