CEOs Suddenly Fear AI Will Take Their Jobs Too

Having second thoughts, huh?

Business Blowback

As many CEOs gloat over the idea of replacing their human workers with AI, some of them are now starting to fear that they, too, may be on the chopping block.

Per a new report from the IT consulting firm AND Digital which surveyed hundreds of business leaders in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands, 43 percent of respondents said they believed AI could take their job as CEO.

Denizens of the C-suite aren’t making a strong case for keeping their positions, either. Embarrassingly, nearly that exact same proportion — 45 percent — admitted to secretly making major business decisions “based on data and information obtained using ChatGPT.” Strong evidence, perhaps, that maybe replacing CEOs with AI isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Preparing for the Inevitable

Rest assured, many of them claim that they aren’t just looking to cover their own butts. According to the report, 68 percent of the CEOs said that ethical considerations over AI adoption in the workplace is a top priority issue — though those “considerations” could mean anything.

In fact, the chief execs have considerable anxiety about how workers will handle AI adoption, with 44 percent believing that their employees aren’t prepared to use the technology.

Addressing those concerns, about 76 percent said that they’re training their staff to be more digitally literate.

Other bosses responded differently. Preferring a more conservative approach, about 34 percent said that they’ve outright banned generative AI tools like ChatGPT from the workplace — though you have to wonder if some of them are among the 45 percent who admitted to making business decisions with the tech.

Blame Game

However they decide to prepare for AI’s adoption among employees, the bosses may have good reason to worry.

Last year, many large companies, especially banks, started banning AI chatbots amid reports that employees were accidentally leaking information by talking with them. Beyond that, AI tools don’t give reliable answers, so they’re not something you’d want employees relying on.

Still, it’s an ironic and blatantly hypocritical stance for CEOs to be taking at this point — especially since nearly half of them admitted to using ChatGPT to do their jobs.

If anything, we should be more worried about what they do with the technology rather than their employees. By and large, it will be CEOs deciding on how AI will fit into the workplace, not your average Joe.

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