Millennials most worried ChatGPT will take their jobs

Millennials are 43% more concerned than other generations about losing their jobs due to the rise of ChatGTP, a study shows. Meanwhile, employees in marketing are not as irreplaceable as they think they are.

Marketers are half as likely than their peers in product management and customer service departments to worry ChatGPT could replace their jobs – but they are the ones who are most at risk, according to a study by Sortlist Data Hub.

A survey has shown that 51% of employers who are considering cutting roles say that ChatGPT would most likely be implemented in their marketing and PR departments. Only a quarter of employees in those departments believe reduced headcounts would affect them.

Even though employees and employers acknowledged ChatGPT’s potential in marketing copy, employees “may not have grasped just how many employers are ready to use the bot,” the study said.

Meanwhile, IT is likely to remain human. Few expect ChatGPT will replace IT jobs, with a quarter of both employees and employers considering the possibility. Those with positions in operations and legal have even fewer reasons to worry, with the chatbot unlikely to replace them any time soon.

Across sectors, tech is predicted to see the most job cuts due to ChatGPT. Both Microsoft and Google cited automation and focus on AI as reasons behind their recent layoffs. Just under a quarter of tech employees are worried they will lose their jobs to ChatGPT.

“Maybe they should be, as 26% of employers in the same industry are thinking about reducing headcount as a direct result,” Sortlist Data Hub said.

Finance is the second-biggest industry where employers see ChatGPT as a means of reducing headcount, with 22% saying they would consider the option. In contrast, only 14% of finance employees fear the chatbot could replace them.

On the other side of the picture, employees in education are more worried about ChatGPT replacing them than they should be. At 31%, they are two times more likely to think AI will result in job cuts than employers.

While millennials are more concerned than other age groups about losing their jobs to ChatGPT across sectors, those in tech and finance are particularly worried.

Those falling into the 25-34 age bracket in both tech and finance were found to be 2.4 times more likely to worry about the OpenAI’s chatbot taking their jobs.

Within both industries, most millennials believe ChatGPT could be used to write marketing copy. In tech, some also say it could affect coding and customer service jobs, while those in finance say those whose job is to analyze data could be impacted.

Among other findings, employers expect a 74% productivity increase from ChatGPT, compared to 66% among employees.

Half of the employees who feel their work productivity could increase two or even three times due to ChatGPT are from Generation Z, or those aged 18 to 24, according to the study.

Most respondents, regardless of their age, were worried ChatGPT could mean the loss of a human touch despite its advanced conversational capabilities. 39% said this was a concern for them, with almost half of those who share this fear coming from customer service.

Losing a job was the second biggest concern, followed by the loss of authenticity, the lack of regulation, and that ChatGPT was too basic.

The study is based on a survey of 500 employees and employers in six countries, namely, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.