70% of employees keen to delegate work to AI to reduce workload

As many as 70% of employees globally are willing to use artificial intelligence (AI) to manage their workload, a recent survey by Microsoft Work Trend Index has revealed.

While 49% of people say they’re worried AI will replace their jobs, 68% of people said they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time to complete tasks and 62% spend too much time searching for information.

Microsfot found that people are looking for AI to help in almost every aspect of their work.

Not only did three quarters of respondents suggest they would be comfortable using AI for administrative tasks (76%), most people also said they would be comfortable using it for analytical and even creative work.

People are also looking for AI to assist with finding the right information and answers they need, summarising their meetings and action items, and planning their day.

“It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs,” said author and organisational psychology professor Adam Grant.

The study also suggests that business leaders are looking to empower people with AI rather than replace them – as recent headlines have largely claimed.

They’re two times more interested in using AI to increase productivity than to cut headcount. In fact, reducing headcount, according to Microsoft, was last on the list of what leaders would value from AI.

After “increasing productivity,” leaders’ top hopes for AI are to: help employees with necessary but repetitive tasks, increase employee wellbeing, eliminate employee time spent on low-value activities, enhance employees’ capabilities, and accelerate employees’ pace of work.

Yet the tech giant also points to the need for AI training. Over 80% of leaders said their employees will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI.

“We’re in the next phase of change with the introduction of generative AI, and it’s already starting to reshape the labor market,” said Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn. “While it’s still early days, this shift will expand opportunities, create new roles, and augment productivity.”

This week, Dozens of experts including the heads of OpenAI and Google Deepmind showed their support for a statement published by the Centre for AI Safety warning that artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity.

The Centre also suggested possible disaster scenarios, for example that AI could be weaponised, AI-generated misinformation could destabilise society and the power of AI could become increasingly concentrated.