PHOENIX – Artificial intelligence has been making many headlines in recent months, ranging from the benefits it can provide to the potentially negative effects it can have on society in general.

One of the questions people may ask about AI is whether jobs will be affected by the technology. While, data from one report shows about one in five of all American workers could be very exposed to AI, we also spoke with some businesses in the Phoenix area, and they are actually hiring because of AI.

Here’s what you should know.

What’s AI?

AI, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, refers to the ability of a digital computer, or a computer-controlled robot, to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligence beings.

“The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience,” read a portion of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s entry on AI.

Are there technologies that utilize AI these days?

According to a 2022 article published by Geekflare, a number of technologies in the present day utilize AI, such as:

• Mapping app on smartphones
• Predictive texting on digital devices
• Smart assistants on digital devices, like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant
• Smart home

An article published by Forbes in 2019 also lists social media and facial identification on smartphones as things that utilize AI. Chatbots like ChatGPT also use AI.

You mentioned a report about AI. What did it say?

The report, which was published by the Pew Research Center on July 26, found that 19% of all Americans were in jobs that are the most exposed to AI.

The same report, however, also found that 23% of all workers have jobs that are least exposed to AI, or jobs in which the most important activities are farther from AI’s reach.

The report also found the following:

• Women (21%) are more likely to see the most exposure to AI than men (17%), due to differences in the types of jobs held by men and women
• Workers with a bachelor’s degree or more (27%) are more likely than those with only a high school diploma (12%) to see the most exposure to AI
• Asian workers (24%) and White workers (20%) are more exposed to AI than Black workers (15%) and Hispanic workers (13%).

In another study by Goldman Sachs, it was also found that Ai might disrupt 300 million jobs globally.

This sounds rather concerning…

However, the same report by Goldman Sachs also points out that job displacement often leads to the creation of new job. This can be seen at the Mayo Clinic in North Phoenix.

“AI will impact everything we do. Every person, every member of the clinical team,” said Sean Glenn, Administrator for Automation at the Mayo Clinic. “Mayo Clinic is committed to being on the cutting edge, where AI is going to go and transform medical care.”

What is Mayo Clinic going to do with AI?

Glenn said Mayo Clinic plans to use AI as a tool.

“What it’s going to do is make them more effective, make them more productive, help them have greater joy in their work,” said Glenn.

From triage to care, even paperwork, AI has a role.

“I am not worried about losing jobs in healthcare because of AI,” said Glenn. “We have 30 positions at Mayo that are AI-oriented, with 30% of those being based in Arizona. That’s just today, let alone what’s going to be coming in the future.”

Are there other companies like the Mayo Clinic, in terms of their use of AI?

Other companies, like Envida Social in Scottsdale, are also embracing AI.

Envida Social markets multifamily housing online, and they welcomed AI into their workplace in 2022.

“It should make you faster, more efficient, more creative, more effective,” said Candi Guay with Envida Social. “It shouldn’t be a scary thing. It should be something we’re able to work with, build and process. Make your life easier.”

Kristian Prieto was hired at a full-time AI Specialist at Envida Social, It’s a job he sees coming to every business eventually.

“It’s really been an all-encompassing initiative for us,” said Prieto. “Everyone is very aware this is something that’s going to affect the future.”

With current technologies, will AI replace human workers?

An entry on the Encyclopaedia Britannica website noted that despite continuing advances in computer processor speed and memory capacity, “there are as yet no programs that can match full human flexibility over wider domains or in tasks requiring much everyday knowledge.”

However, the UK-based encyclopedia did note that as more tasks become automated, many workers are poised to lose their jobs, and while AI may create new jobs, these jobs may require more technical skills than the job AI has replaced.

The report by Pew Research Center contains a list of 20 jobs that researchers there believe are the most likely to have a high exposure to AI, and the jobs include:

• Billing and posting clerks
• Bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks
• Tax Preparers
• Judicial Law Clerks
• Paralegals and Legal Assistants
• Computer Hardware Designers
• Architectural and Civil Drafters
• Credit Analysts