From Microsoft Corp to Amazon.com Inc and HP Inc, and from Allianz SE to Deutsche Lufthansa AG and ING Groep NV, major Western companies have been announcing job cuts for a variety of reasons, with many firms citing the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a major factor allowing them to eliminate staff and reduce hiring.
As the AI craze sweeps the globe, a wave of AI-related layoffs is also emerging, leaving many people wondering whether the boom of this technology would continue causing widespread job losses, and if and when this wave of layoffs would reach Taiwan.
Amid the AI boom, technology companies were the first to report job cuts, as the technology gathered pace. However, over the past few months, firms across other industries have followed suit, with those involved in finance, retail and food services also announcing intentions to freeze hiring and engage with AI.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last week published a study that found that the layoffs in the tech industry were just the tip of the iceberg.
The workforce truly being impacted by AI on a massive scale is hidden beneath the surface, far exceeding what the outside world imagines, the report said.
A CNBC report on Wednesday said that an analysis of 151 million US workers — via a labor simulation tool called the Iceberg Index, which the MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory jointly created — found that AI can already replace 11.7 percent of the US workforce, or as much as US$1.2 trillion in wages.
The layoffs in the tech industry — the most visible part — represent just 2.2 percent of total wage exposure, or about US$211 billion, the study showed.
Beneath the surface lies a large number of routine, standardized white-collar jobs that are most affected by AI, such as human resources, logistics, finance and office administration. These backend and administrative functions were often considered relatively safe in the past, but are now typical positions that can be fully covered by AI automation capabilities, it showed.
Some experts have said the waves of layoffs came as Western firms adjusted their workforce back to a more reasonable level after they significantly increased hiring during the period following the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, others believe the job cuts show that firms are taking advantage of advances in AI to keep costs low and adjust their headcounts, are responding to increased economic uncertainty and are racing to appeal to investors — because when a company announces layoffs and says it would invest resources in AI, it often pleased investors and could be seen as the company showing a commitment to keeping abreast of trends.
Regardless, job displacement due to the increased use of AI is an ongoing reality in parts of the world. The question is, would this AI-driven wave of layoffs reach Taiwan, or has it already occurred here?
The answer is that although the wave of AI-related cutbacks in Taiwan might not escalate into a full-blown workplace catastrophe, the technology has started to impact some repetitive, high-volume work in technology, finance, customer service and administrative positions, as local firms pursue organizational optimization. While AI is not the sole reason for the firms’ organizational optimizations, it certainly accelerates such efforts.
From another perspective, it is precisely because companies value the development of AI that workers with AI skills have become indispensable figures in the workplace. Even when companies do not openly mention AI in their layoff announcements, many of their new hires are required to have AI capabilities.
According to 1111 Job Bank, there were about 14,000 job openings related to AI in April. That number reached more than 31,000 last month, with work opportunities ranging from data analysis to deep learning and image recognition.
The demand has increased rapidly in just seven months, indicating that Taiwanese companies are increasingly valuing AI talent. It also reminds workers of the importance of improving their skills and staying abreast of the latest AI trends to remain competitive in the workplace.
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