Data centre capacity would have to more than double by 2030, requiring an extra 8300 data centre workers alone.
The productivity gains include faster processing of requests from customers to finding new and more efficient ways to deliver services.
The Commonwealth Bank recently noted that since its AI-enabled IT support assistant was put in place, it had processed 2.3 million messages and completed 12,000 IT fixes over the past six months, saving almost 2500 hours. Each fix averaged two minutes compared to 17 minutes for an IT service desk call.
OpenAI, which estimates more than 500 million people a day use its AI system, says in Australia usage has more than doubled over the past year.
One of the biggest fears is wholesale job losses as AI replaces people. Goldman Sachs this year argued up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be “displaced” by the technology, with growing concerns that entry-level jobs are disappearing.
On Monday, research by the jobs search site Adzuna showed entry-level jobs in Britain had fallen by 31.9 per cent since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.
But Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI’s first chief economist, said while there were jobs that could be pushed aside by artificial intelligence, the nature of new technology was the creation of even more jobs.
OpenAI global chief economist Ronnie Chatterji says while AI will be disruptive, the economic and social gains will be worth it.
He said from chief technology officers in major companies to podcasters, there had been a surge in new jobs that technology had enabled.
“There are jobs that didn’t exist 20 years ago. Go back to the 1940s, and there are so many jobs that don’t exist today,” he told this masthead.
“I’m not saying that there will be no impact on the job market, but saying productivity will increase and there will be completely new jobs in different sectors created.”
New technologies have been the driving force of productivity over the past 200 years, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the advent of the personal computer.
Chatterji said AI was a general-use technology, similar to electricity, which enabled productivity to surge in all parts of the economy.
But unlike electricity, AI was growing rapidly and shifting into businesses and homes at a much faster rate.
The risk, according to OpenAI’s outlook, is that Australia fails to adopt the technology or puts too many restrictions around it.
“Australia has shown that when it moves with purpose – on digital payments, rooftop solar or cloud [computing] adoption – it can lead the world,” it said.
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“Australians are fast to adopt new technology relative to other Western nations. AI should be no different.”
Among its proposals for Australia are to provide training for school teachers and to integrate AI into the national curriculum, provide tax incentives or grants to businesses that take on the new technology, and release public datasets that could be used for AI analysis.
The use of AI and its impact on jobs has prompted concerns from unions and community groups, with calls for AI-specific laws to protect workers. The Social Policy Group has warned that up to one in three workers could face a period of unemployment by 2030 if AI adoption remains at its current pace.
Last week, assistant Productivity Minister Andrew Leigh pushed back on calls for direct government regulation of AI.
“Regulation should follow a principles-based approach. Start by applying existing laws. Where those fall short, make technologically neutral amendments,” he said.
“Only if these approaches are insufficient should AI-specific rules be considered.”
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