Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Workers

Technological innovation has always been one of the most important factors affecting the nature of work and the employability of people at work. In the early part of the 21st century, the rapid pace at which radical technological innovations have followed one another has posed challenges for the future of work and workers. The case of ChatGPT is emblematic. It was 30th November 2022 when the American artificial intelligence (from now on, AI) research laboratory OpenAI launched ChatGPT, and in doing so, more or less instantly made the world aware of this breakthrough technology’s potential. Only five days after its release, more than a million users had tested it (Chui, et al., 2023). Because of its advanced writing capabilities, ease of use, response speed, and proficiency at carrying out complex tasks, ChatGPT has been described as the best and most promising AI chatbot released to the general public (Schulten, 2023). The rapid proliferation of new generative AI technologies has led to mixed reactions. On the one hand, there are those who see AI leading to the elimination of many jobs with an increasing number of people facing exclusion from the labour market; on the other, there are those who place more importance on the gentle face of AI, because it will take over repetitive tasks while leaving activities that involve the exercise of judgment to humans. Bearing this in mind, this chapter analyses the impact of AI on competences. The aim is to provide a framework for identifying the characteristics of skills that ongoing technological change will make obsolete and those that will be enhanced. The define of competence used aligns with CEDEFOP’s definition