– It makes us a richer and better country – NRK Nordland

In the past year, you may have heard about artificial intelligence (AI) that generates images, audio, and video.

You’ve heard that AI can write books, accompany TV shows, and do your homework.

Siri, Alexa, ChatGPT, Replika, and My AI.

Media researcher Petter Bae Brandtzæg believes that more people will lose their jobs when the AI-based Microsoft 365 Copilot launches.

– Technological progress in line with the printing press and the Internet

according to Statista.com Microsoft 365 is used by more than a million different companies. Most of them are located in the USA, but the software package is also used by several Norwegian companies.

It can’t be underestimated that work life will change for many when the new tool Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally released.

– These changes are reminiscent of changes brought about by other technological developments such as the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet.

she says Ingrid Ludvigsen, Head of Modern Work at Microsoft Norway.

Ludvigsen says the new tool will help us focus more on the work that matters.

– and less on monotonous and unrewarding tasks.

How effective is highly effective?

Petter Bae Brandtzæg, media researcher at SINTEF and UiO, expects Copilot to make tasks like proofreading and editing more efficient.

– maybe Contribute to knowledge workers being able to work more creatively and innovatively when it comes to expressing themselves in writing.

Brandtzæg defines knowledge workers as people whose job is to think, analyze, and write.

At the same time, he believes that the tool can challenge the same professions.

– Brandtzæg says if many become more competent in such professions, we may not need such professions.

– There are indications that ChatGPT is challenging the jobs of many knowledge workers in the US. It can happen here too, and it will happen here.

Brandtzæg says technology has always changed people’s working day, and AI is no exception.

– Until now, we thought that AI would change physical and manual labor, but what happens is that it will primarily change the jobs of knowledge workers.

Personal responsibility for updating personal competencies

And when work life changes, Arne Krokan, a professor in NTNU’s Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, believes you can only do one of two things.

Either you go back to the way things were before, or you have to make adjustments. And going back some things a little bit because you don’t care to learn how the new works.

He advises people to learn how to use AI effectively.

– I also believe that updating one’s competencies in areas where new technology creates significant disruptions to society, such as artificial intelligence, is a personal responsibility.

I don’t think people are going to lose their jobs anytime soon

Crokan says he thinks a lot of people are a little concerned about what AI might do to their day-to-day working lives.

– There are likely to be some consequences for people who primarily do rule-based work, such as accounting or checking that travel bills are done correctly.

He still doesn’t believe technology will make people unemployed. At least not in the short term.

– but then you may ask yourself what it is Short-term?

Krokan points out that Chat GPT, which was based on GPT3.5, became available in November, while GPT 4 became available only months later.

– And we saw that the differences between the two versions in some areas were very large.

He welcomes new technology, even if people lose their jobs

Many people lost their jobs when tractors began to be used in Norwegian agriculture in the 1950s, says special advisor Kjetil Gåsemyr Staalesen at the Business Policy Department of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO).

– But no one is upset about it. The hard and dangerous work was wasted, so no one thought it was a bad idea to introduce the tractor.

Stalissen says that technological advances in areas such as agriculture, fishing and the industrial sector have freed up a large number of years of work over the years.

– We were not close to being able to fill health and care institutions with qualified personnel if we spent the same number of working years, for example, on food production, as we did before.

This is why LO welcomes new technology into Norwegian working life.

– But those who have lost their jobs should get better jobs than they lost, and those who fall outside of practical life must be taken care of. As long as we get it done, the LO will say that the new technology is generally good for Norway.

Do you think people will lose their jobs because of this new technology?

– Yes, it happens all the time. It happened this year, it happened last year and the year before, it happened in the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s.

It’s important, Stalesen says, that Norway is quick and good at adopting new technology and new ways of working.

– It makes us a richer and better country. The art consists in presenting the new, in consultation with those who will actually use it, namely the staff. Then we get better decisions and fewer conflicts.