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A recent survey has found that half of Finns believe artificial intelligence will lead to mass unemployment, although experts say its near-term impact on employment is likely to be significantly less severe.
More than half of Finns completely or somewhat agree with the claim that AI will cause mass unemployment, public broadcaster Yle reported, citing a recent survey by Taloustutkimus. It also showed that the youngest generations, those under 35, are the most concerned about this.
Speaking to the outlet, researchers said that although AI will certainly destroy jobs, concerns about widespread mass unemployment are probably greatly exaggerated, at least in the short and medium term.
Ramin Izadi, an expert who has just written about artificial intelligence, said he believes people's concerns have been fueled by predictions of technology giants and leaders of AI companies that many professions will disappear in the years to come.
"Most of the jobs we have today are ones that didn't even exist 50 years ago," he added.
Ari Hyytineni, a professor at Helsinki's Hanken School of Economics, said that in most cases, artificial intelligence is probably only able to replace some, but not all, tasks in a profession.
Research on the impact of AI has so far found no evidence that the technology has increased unemployment at the national economy level, with only slight effects observed in some entry-level customer service positions.
Hyytinen said the lack of measurable disruption stands in contrast to the widespread public concern reflected in the survey. "There are no signs of it, and economic research gives no reason to assume that this would happen," he said.
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