Many people have sounded a warning that artificial intelligence could become one of the biggest job-killing technologies of all time.
While the jury is still out on that one, a recent survey has better news for the industry, finding that 88 per cent of Chinese workers have more trust in robots than in their human managers.
China’s trust level of robots in the workplace is well above the world average, where about two thirds of workers trust AI over their managers, but slightly behind India at 89 per cent, according to a study by US software company Oracle and research firm Future Workplace released on Tuesday.
According to the survey, respondents believe AI has an advantage over humans in terms of work scheduling, offering unbiased information, and problem solving. Four out of five of those surveyed thought robots can handle most things better than a human manager.
"AI is redefining not only the relationship between worker and manager, but also the role of a manager in an AI-driven workplace,” Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace, said in a statement. “Managers will remain relevant in future if they focus on being human and using their soft skills, while leaving the technical skills and routine tasks to robots.”
The study polled 8,370 employees, managers and human resources professionals in 10 countries from July to August this year.
The survey findings come as AI technology starts to make a bigger impact in the workplace across the world. About half of all survey respondents said they used some form of AI technology in their everyday work, up from 32 per cent last year.
Contrary to the common perception that people are fearful of robots in the workplace, two thirds of survey respondents said they are optimistic and grateful about having a robot co-worker, and a quarter of respondents said their relationship with AI at work was “loving and gratifying”.
China’s trust level of robots in the workplace is well above the world average, where about two thirds of workers trust AI over their managers, but slightly behind India at 89 per cent, according to a study by US software company Oracle and research firm Future Workplace released on Tuesday.
According to the survey, respondents believe AI has an advantage over humans in terms of work scheduling, offering unbiased information, and problem solving. Four out of five of those surveyed thought robots can handle most things better than a human manager.
The study polled 8,370 employees, managers and human resources professionals in 10 countries from July to August this year.
Contrary to the common perception that people are fearful of robots in the workplace, two thirds of survey respondents said they are optimistic and grateful about having a robot co-worker, and a quarter of respondents said their relationship with AI at work was “loving and gratifying”.
