78% of employees would delegate work to bots
Despite the anxiety of getting replaced, employees from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region are showing signs that they are more relieved by emerging artificial intelligence (AI), believing the bots can help ease their heavy workloads.
These were the findings of Microsoft's 2023 Work Trend Index, which included responses from 14 markets from APAC such as Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
According to the report, 78% of employees in APAC would delegate work as much as possible to AI to reduce their workloads. In fact, three in four of the respondents said they are comfortable with AI taking over not only administrative tasks, but also the analytical and creative aspects of their work.
"Employees across Asia Pacific are optimistic about AI, as our Work Trend Index research suggests 78% of people in this region would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workloads," said Vinod Muralidharan, general manager Modern Work, Microsoft Asia, in a media release.
The findings come as majority of employees are overwhelmed by the volume of data, emails, and chats that they need to process in a day. For 72% of APAC respondents, they said they don't have enough time and energy to get their work done. They are also three times more likely to say they struggle with innovation.
However, the findings also arrived amid growing concerns that AI could replace employees soon.
A recent report from Goldman Sachs found that generative AI, such as Chat GPT, DALL-E, and LaMDA, could put at risk 300 million full-time jobs. Majority (86%) of HR professionals are also concerned that their roles could be automated in the future, according to a 2021 SkyNova research.
Fears that they could be on the chopping block are reflected on Microsoft's report - as 58% said they are worried that AI would replace their jobs.
Respondents who identified as leaders, however, were not as concerned about this happening. According to the report, leaders are 1.9 times more likely to say AI is most helpful in boosting productivity instead of cutting headcount.
However, employees will need to develop skills in emerging AI tech, according to the leaders surveyed, where 85% said staff will need new skills in the AI era.
"The most pressing opportunity and responsibility for every leader is to understand how to leverage AI to remove the drudgery of work, unleash creativity, and build AI aptitude," Muralidharan said.
