Study: AI will threaten many Columbus area jobs
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Approximately one out of every eight jobs in the Columbus metro area will be threatened by artificial intelligence in the coming years, per new analysis from the research website ChamberofCommerce.org.
Why it matters: Rapid AI development can be an economic double-edged sword, with the potential boost in productivity accompanied by significant job losses.
What they did: ChamberofCommerce.org, which is not affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, compared federal labor data with research of the occupations most vulnerable to AI .
Threat level: Roughly 13% of the Columbus metro area's workforce is at risk, or nearly 140,000 jobs in total.
Zoom out: Columbus has the 18th highest percentage out of the 50 cities tracked, trailed by Cleveland and Cincinnati, each with around 12.8% of jobs at risk.
- Other Midwestern metros are higher on the list: Grand Rapids, Michigan (14.5%), Detroit (14%) and Indianapolis (13.3%).
State of play: Common administrative positions, like cashiers, clerks, bookkeepers and accountants, could face major job losses in the coming years as AI software and large language models develop.
- Dublin-based Wendy's, as one example, is testing a drive-thru chatbot service at a local store.
Of note: With these job losses will come many new roles "more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms," the World Economic Forum reported earlier this year.
Yes, but: The early winners of new generative AI jobs are on the coasts and in Texas, Ryan Heath writes for Axios AI+.
- None of the top 50 AI startups are located in a Midwest state.
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