Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Year : 1, Issue : 19
Artificial intelligence poses risks to job security around the world but also offers a “tremendous opportunity” to boost flagging productivity levels and fuel global growth, the IMF chief told AFP.
AI will affect 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said in an interview in Washington, shortly before departing for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With AI expected to have less effect in developing countries, around “40 percent of jobs globally are likely to be impacted,” she said, citing a new IMF report.
The IMF report published Sunday evening notes that only half of the jobs impacted by AI will be negatively affected; the rest may actually benefit from enhanced productivity gains due to AI.
The IMF report predicted that, while labor markets in emerging markets and developing economies will see a smaller initial impact from AI, they are also less likely to benefit from the enhanced productivity that will arise through its integration in the workplace.
“We must focus on helping low income countries in particular to move faster to be able to catch the opportunities that artificial intelligence will present,” Georgieva told AFP.
“So artificial intelligence, yes, a little scary. But it is also a tremendous opportunity for everyone,” she said.
The IMF is due to publish updated economic forecasts later this month which will show the global economy is broadly on track to meet its previous forecasts, she said.
Georgieva said 2024 is likely to be “a very tough year” for fiscal policy worldwide, as countries look to tackle debt burdens accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rebuild depleted buffers.
Billions of people are also due to go to the polls this year, putting additional pressure on governments to either raise spending or cut taxes to win popular support.
“About 80 countries are going to have elections, and we know what happens with pressure on spending during election cycles,” she added.
The concern at the IMF, Georgieva said, is that governments around the world spend big this year and undermine the hard-won progress they have made in the fight against high inflation.
“If monetary policy tightens and fiscal policy expands, going against the objective of bringing inflation down, we might be for a longer ride,” she added.
Source: AFP, Washington
