AI Is Not After Your Jobs; It Simply Boosts Efficiency

• Alorica, a global customer-service company, uses an AI tool to communicate in 200 languages, enhancing efficiency without job losses.
• AI’s impact on jobs is complex, potentially transforming roles rather than eliminating them, as seen in Alorica’s increased productivity.
• However, AI’s impact varies across sectors, with some jobs more vulnerable than others, as demonstrated by Indian entrepreneur Suumit Shah’s use of a chatbot.
• The future of work may involve job transformation rather than job loss, as AI redefines human and machine collaboration.

In an era of globalization, language barriers have often posed significant challenges in customer service. Alorica, a company based in Irvine, California, has made a significant stride towards overcoming this hurdle. The company, which operates customer-service centers worldwide, has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) translation tool. This tool enables its representatives to communicate with customers in 200 different languages and 75 dialects. This innovation allows a representative who speaks only one language, such as Spanish, to assist a customer speaking Cantonese in Hong Kong, eliminating the need for a Cantonese-speaking representative.

The introduction of AI in customer service has sparked debates about its potential to replace human jobs. However, Alorica’s experience suggests a different narrative. Despite the efficiency of AI, the company continues to hire aggressively, indicating that AI is being used to augment human work rather than replace it. This observation aligns with the experiences of other companies, including furniture retailer IKEA, suggesting that AI may not be the job killer many fear.

Historically, technological advancements have often led to job displacement in certain sectors while creating new opportunities in others. The steam engine, electricity, and the internet, for instance, eliminated some jobs but also created new ones. AI seems to be following a similar trajectory. It is enhancing productivity and potentially creating new job roles, shifting the focus of workers towards more creative and complex tasks.

AI’s Impact on the Job Market

Nick Bunker, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, shares this perspective. He believes that while AI will affect many jobs, it is unlikely to lead to mass unemployment. He argues that technology destroys but also creates, and there will be new jobs that come about. This view is supported by a study led by David Autor, a leading MIT economist, which found that 60% of the jobs Americans held in 2018 didn’t even exist in 1940, having been created by technologies that emerged later.

AI’s potential to transform jobs rather than eliminate them outright is evident in the case of Alorica. The company’s AI tools have helped customer-service representatives reduce their average handle time, allowing them to manage more calls per hour and increase productivity. For instance, one group of reps reduced their average handle time to six minutes from over eight, enabling them to field 10 calls an hour instead of eight. This efficiency is further enhanced by the Real-time Voice Language Translation tool, which allows agents to communicate instantly in different languages, reducing the need for hiring multilingual staff.

However, the impact of AI on jobs is not uniform across all sectors. Some jobs are more vulnerable than others. For example, Suumit Shah, an Indian entrepreneur, replaced 90% of his customer support staff with a chatbot named Lina at his company, Dukaan. The move reduced the response time to an inquiry from 1 minute, 44 seconds to instant and cut the typical time needed to resolve problems from more than two hours to just over three minutes. Shah’s experience underscores the potential of AI to handle complex queries with precision and efficiency.

AI and the Future of Work

Despite these concerns, the White House Council of Economic Advisers found little evidence that AI will negatively impact overall employment. They noted that technology typically makes companies more productive, speeding economic growth and creating new types of jobs in unexpected ways. This view is echoed by Andy Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, who said that while companies may save money or cut jobs due to AI in the future, it hasn’t played out yet.

In conclusion, AI’s role in the job market is nuanced. While it has the potential to displace certain jobs, it also holds the promise of creating new opportunities and enhancing the efficiency of the workforce. As AI continues to evolve and permeate various sectors, it is crucial to be thoughtful about its implementation and use, ensuring that it complements human work and contributes positively to the economy. The future of work may be less about job loss and more about job transformation, as AI continues to redefine the boundaries of human and machine collaboration.