new york
CNN
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American businesses are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence to automate tasks that were once performed exclusively by humans.
Nearly half (46%) of large U.S. companies plan to use AI to automate tasks currently performed by employees within the next 12 months, according to a survey of financial leaders released Thursday.
These tasks include everything from paying vendors and preparing invoices to financial reporting, according to a study conducted by Duke University and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
This is in addition to creative tasks such as creating job ads, writing press releases, and building marketing campaigns, for which some businesses already rely on ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for assistance.
Survey results show that businesses are increasingly turning to AI to reduce costs, increase profits and improve employee productivity.
“You can't run an innovative company without seriously considering these technologies or you risk getting left behind,” Duke University professor John Graham, the study's academic director, told CNN in a phone interview.
According to a CFO survey conducted jointly by Duke University and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, nearly one in three companies (32%), from large enterprises to small businesses, plan to use AI to complete tasks previously performed by humans within the next 12 months.
Some of this work is already underway, especially among larger companies with the deep pockets to experiment with AI.
About 60% of all companies surveyed (84% of large companies) said they had used software, machines or technology, including AI, to automate tasks previously performed by employees in the past year. The survey was conducted from May 13 to June 3.
Business owners are turning to AI for a variety of reasons, including cutting spending on human workers.
According to the CFO survey, companies say they are using automation to improve product quality (58% of companies), increase production volume (49%), reduce labor costs (47%) and replace workers (33%).
Still, the good news for workers is that some experts don't think AI will cause mass job losses, at least not anytime soon.
“I don't expect to see a significant reduction in hiring this year,” Graham said. “In the short term, we'll be filling holes and we may not be hiring people that we would have otherwise, but we won't be laying people off, in part because this is a brand new endeavor.”
But workers will feel the impact of AI adoption, if they haven’t already.
“This may give people more time to prioritize what's most important and rewarding,” Graham said.
Reid Hoffman, the billionaire investor and co-founder of LinkedIn, told CNN that AI could disrupt some jobs, but not in the near future.
“Years, not decades, years, not months,” Hoffman said of when AI will replace humans. “I believe that within three to five years, we'll all have a co-pilot-like agent helping us with everything from cooking dinner to working to writing.”
Hoffman, who worked with ChatGPT-4 to write a book last year called “Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI,” emphasized that ChatGPT-4 will be the co-pilot, not the pilot, over the next few years.
“It's a transformation of jobs. Human jobs will be replaced, but they'll be replaced by other humans using AI,” he said. “The whole idea is to become humans using AI, to learn, to do and to make AI happen.”
AI and Inflation
For now, employers and employees remain concerned about the cost of living and inflationary pressures.
The CFO survey found that inflation is the second-largest concern for the coming year among U.S. chief financial officers, behind only interest rates and related concerns about monetary policy.
The majority of CFOs (57%) expect prices of their products to increase at a faster pace than usual this year.
However, there were divergences in inflation outlooks based on technology adoption: the survey found that businesses that have adopted automation in the past 12 months expect prices to rise more slowly than those that have not.
Duke's Graham said that while AI could eventually help curb price increases, he's not optimistic it will be a big force in mitigating inflation right now.
“I don't think we're going to find a cure next year,” he said.
The CFO survey shows how rapidly companies are turning to AI, even as safeguards and regulatory frameworks are still being developed.
The rapid adoption of AI in some industries, such as finance, has some people concerned.
In a speech earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that financial companies' use of AI presents both “significant opportunities and significant risks.”
A report released last week by Sen. Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said current regulations “do not adequately address” how hedge funds are already using AI.
The report warned that there are “no regulations or requirements” mandating “when or whether humans should be involved in decision-making, including in relation to trading decisions.”
Duke's Graham said companies across all industries would be wise to put strong risk-control systems and redundancies in place as they experiment with AI.
“AI adoption is moving at a rapid pace,” he said, “so don't get too excited about it. You're going to see some situations where companies are moving a little too quickly and end up in embarrassing product or supply chain situations.”
