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The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI) tools in companies has experienced great growth in recent months, which shows that organizations trust more in the benefits that it can offer, although the feeling of anxiety about using it has also increased, to the point that 42 percent of workers consider that their job will cease to exist in the next decade due to this technology.
This is one of the conclusions that Boston Consulting Group has reached after carrying out a Global survey in which more than 13,000 managers, middle managers and employees participatedwhich has been done with the objective of knowing how AI is impacting their organizations and the mentality that workers have around it.
The results of this survey are reflected in AI at Work: Friend and Foe, a study that follows last year’s AI at Work: What People Are Saying survey, which highlighted that Spain was among the most optimistic countries regarding the adoption of AI and generative AI tools.
In the presentation of the new study, the company first commented that it believes that “everyone” understands that AI will have a positive, real and transformative impact on society, but also on companies and productivity. However, BCG has said that this perspective is “changing”, because currently 46 percent of respondents are optimistic about the implementation of AI in processes, compared to 52 percent last year.
This year’s survey reveals that The trust that organizations place in AI-powered tools has grown, from 26 percent registered last year to 42 percent in 2024. In any case, as the belief in the benefits that it can bring has grown, so has the concern to integrate it into operations. So much so that currently 17 percent of leaders and workers surveyed say that AI makes them anxious, up from 12 percent in 2023.
Based on data from Spaniards, 42 percent of them claim to have more confidence in these tools, although 16 percent of those surveyed acknowledge that the integration of AI in their companies causes them more concern, BCG has noted, in a meeting held this Wednesday, in which Europa Press was present.
In this sense, BCG has announced that it is common for workers to trust this type of generative artificial intelligence tools more “the more they use them”, and that there are great differences depending on where these organizations are located. In this way, southern countries such as Brazil, India, Nigeria, South Africa and part of the Middle East welcome this technology in a more optimistic way, compared to northern countries.
This way, Countries in the global South have a higher proportion of regular users of generative AI in their workwhich is why they are more likely to experiment with these solutions, as well as focus on the quality of their work.
This is also due to the age of the workers, since the median in the global south is 25 years old, while in the north it is 39 years old. Companies located in these countries are also younger, so they have the ability to adopt new procedures and tools more quickly than their northern neighbors.
In any case, the survey determines that with generative AI, employees stop spending so much time on automated processes, since 58 percent of employees who use generative AI in the organizations they serve save more than five hours weekly with this technology. That time can be dedicated to “new things they had not done before, such as experimenting, understanding technology better, or simply finishing their work sooner,” according to the company.
The survey also reveals that the Incorporation of solutions powered by AI is more accepted by company leaders and managers than by workers, since its use continues to generate anxiety, especially when there is a false belief that this technology can destroy jobs.
He 79 percent of employees believe AI will “deeply” transform their jobs, a figure very similar to last year (75%). This, on the other hand, grows around the percentage of workers who think that their jobs could cease to exist in the next decade, because 42 percent believe that this may be possible (compared to 36% in 2023).
In this sense, BCG has highlighted that, based on this survey, Workers who use generative AI regularly are more likely to fear losing their jobs: 49 percent of those who use it tend to think their job may disappearcompared to 24 percent of employees who do not interact with these tools.
This mindset also stems from the ability of organizations to train their employees in the use of AI. In this sense, the survey indicates that training can “unlock” the full potential of this technology and take advantage of it to achieve greater performance.
However, workers face a number of challenges when using generative AI that are related to training, such as lack of time to learn how to use these tools, ineffective training on their use, and uncertainty about when to use them. .
The company has also indicated that organizations must be open to changes in their structure to adopt this technology, “looking at new operating models that require appropriate governance.” Because technology evolves rapidly, a muscle must be “developed that allows companies to train and update their employees and leaders,” as they explained at the meeting.
Likewise, he has clarified that this muscle “needs to be built” and that to achieve an efficient and productive business model “it will not only be enough” to offer correct training to employees, but that their satisfaction must also be ensured, which will be reflected automatically in that of your clients.
Europa Press
