Berlin (dpa) - Artificial intelligence tools such as the text robot ChatGPT are currently shaking up the high-tech industry. Google's dominance in Internet searches is being seriously challenged for the first time by new AI software. But the effects of the technology earthquake are not only being felt in faraway Silicon Valley. Artificial intelligence will also change the everyday working lives of many people outside of California's tech centers. This is the result of two studies that look at the consequences of the AI revolution on the world of work.

AI language models will change most workplaces

The first study comes from the creators of ChatGPT themselves: Researchers from the start-up company OpenAI have teamed up with scientists from the University of Pennsylvania to find out which jobs ChatGPT will have the greatest impact on. According to the study, accountants are one of the professional groups most affected by the possibilities of generative artificial intelligence. At least half of the tasks in accounting could be completed much faster with this technology.

According to the study, mathematicians, programmers, interpreters, writers and journalists should also be prepared for artificial intelligence to take over at least some of their current tasks. Although AI systems currently still often "hallucinate" incorrect facts in their answers, they are already delivering impressive results in tasks such as translation, classification, creative writing and generating computer codes.

Researchers at OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania believe that most jobs will be transformed in some way by AI language models. Around 80 percent of employees in the USA work in jobs in which at least one task can be completed more quickly using generative AI. However, there are also professions in which AI will only play a subordinate role: These include chefs, car mechanics and jobs in oil and gas extraction, but also in forestry and agriculture.

Some professions will disappear

In a study, a research department at investment bank Goldman Sachs has calculated what this development could mean for the labor market in concrete terms. If so-called generative AI delivers the promised capabilities, this could lead to "significant disruption on the labor market". "Generative AI" refers to computer programs that can create new ideas, content or solutions instead of just following predefined rules or instructions.

Goldman Sachs assumes that around two thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation. Generative AI could replace up to a quarter of current work. "Extrapolating our estimates to the whole world, generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation."

Hinrich Schütze, Director of the Center for Information and Language Processing at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), sees the development of generative AI as a revolution that is technologically comparable to the internet or the smartphone. However, AI systems are still a long way from a real understanding of the content of topics: "The basic technology for language patterns is simply always predicting the next word, very stupidly, always the next word."

Nevertheless, the consequences are already enormous: "There will be major changes in how we write, whenever we write texts, how we program." This will also have a major impact on everyday working life. "A lot of jobs will disappear if it's simply a matter of writing summaries, collecting and condensing knowledge."

However, the Munich-based AI expert warns against giving artificial intelligence too much leeway when making decisions, for example in the judiciary, medicine, tax consultancy or asset management. AI makes many statements with great persuasive power, even though the facts are often incorrect: "People think it must be right if the model is so certain. But in reality, the model cannot assess its own certainty. That's one of the big problems we have."

Exaggerated expectations: Energy as a limiting factor

Potsdam computer science professor Christoph Meinel sees a further obstacle to the widespread breakthrough of AI in the world of work, as the systems require huge computing capacities and therefore also require huge amounts of energy. "Many expectations of AI seem exaggerated to me and also unrealistic in terms of its energy consumption," says the outgoing director of the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI). Successful AI applications are based on deep learning, i.e. training with huge amounts of data. "And they consume huge amounts of energy." Widespread introduction would therefore be fatal for the climate and the achievement of climate targets. "We first need to develop significantly more energy-efficient AI systems."

However, Meinel sees a challenge not only in the high power consumption, but also in the issue of data protection. "Anyone trying out the latest artificial intelligence applications on the internet should be careful about disclosing sensitive personal data," advises Meinel. Despite the hype, all those responsible should be aware that they are training the providers' AI models and making them smarter for free with their own queries and data. For example, anyone uploading internal financial data to certain platforms so that they can automatically create a presentation from it must be aware that this may also reveal business secrets.