How AI is Impacting the Future of Work Among Adults Age 50-Plus

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked curiosity and concern across all age groups, including older adults. In this survey, fielded among adults age 50-plus, we delve into the uses and perceptions of AI in the workplace.

As older adults increasingly encounter AI-driven technologies in their daily lives, it’s important that we explore the challenges and opportunities associated with AI among this demographic, including shedding light on how technology can enhance the future of work.

Older workers want to learn more about AI.

Although very few workers (7%) say they have taken training or education classes on using AI in their line of work, nearly half (48%) say they are interested in doing so.

Not surprising given that knowledge of and familiarity with AI is limited.

Among adults age 50-plus, over two in five (42%) say they are knowledgeable about AI. And, when it comes to familiarity with the use of AI in the workplace, only three in 10 (31%) say they are very or somewhat familiar.

Finding information is the top use of AI among older workers.

Among those currently working, only one in seven (14%) say they use AI to a great or some extent, while the vast majority (80%) describe their use as not too much or not at all.

The top uses of AI among older workers include finding information (48%), analyzing data or information (28%), and creating content (text, images, audio, videos) (25%). The least common uses include performing physical activities (5%), managing social media engagements (5%), and managing the hiring process (4%).

The impact of AI on the future of work is seen as both a threat and an opportunity.

A third of older adults (33%) see AI as both a threat and an opportunity today — with one in five saying it is a threat (22%) and about one in five seeing it as an opportunity (20%).

The most commonly identified opportunities are to enhance productivity in the workplace (36%), as well as to speed up decision-making processes (30%) and to make work easier (30%). Nearly half (48%) say that AI will automate repetitive tasks which could be seen as both an opportunity and a threat depending on a worker’s role in their line of work.

The primary threat identified by a majority of older adults pertains to workplace disruption: replacing (61%) or displacing (57%) workers. Older workers are not alone in this concern. A recent study by the American Psychological Association found that younger workers (age 18–57) are more worried than workers age 58-plus that AI may make some or all job duties obsolete.

Given that a sizeable portion of older adults (30%) say they don’t know whether AI is a threat or an opportunity in the workplace, more education is needed on how it can impact the future of work.

Read the full article here.