Prof. Izabela Grabowska, a sociologist and economist at Kozminski University, said the question of whether AI will take people's jobs is too simplistic.
She said more important questions are who may find it harder to enter the labour market, who may benefit in terms of career progression, and who may be pushed into worse forms of employment.
She described the change as a “creeping” transformation of the labour market.
It does not necessarily appear as layoffs, but rather through the “quiet exclusion” of some people from suitable career paths. She said this could particularly affect young people, migrants and workers performing easily standardised tasks.
AI could take over tasks that previously allowed junior employees to gain professional experience.
“The tasks through which people learn a profession cannot disappear,” Grabowska said.
She added that researchers should therefore monitor not only unemployment, but also young people's access to internships, placements and junior positions.
Dr Konrad Maj of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS) said it is important to look at whether companies are hiring new employees. A company could retain its current workforce but decide that AI can perform the tasks that would otherwise have been assigned to its next hire.
Prof. Dominik Batorski cited a survey by Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS), according to which 2 percent of respondents said they had lost their job or received fewer assignments due to AI.
He said that even in these cases, it is not always possible to establish that AI was the actual cause.
Batorski said that technological changes in the labour market began long before generative AI, including digitisation, automation and robotisation, which had already led to changes in the structure of employment.
Maj argued that AI could be different from those technologies, as it can perform tasks involving human thinking.
He added that with the use of AI, one person can perform tasks that previously required help from other people, which could potentially affect assistant positions.
He stressed the need to consider the long-term effects of that change.
Batorski said that the question is what kind of jobs people will have, with technology lowering the barrier to entering some professions or contributing to people performing tasks below their qualifications.
(sp)
Source: PAP