Nearly half of US firms using AI say goal is to cut staffing costs
By Brian Delk
Washington: Workers fearing that their employers could use artificial intelligence to replace them might be right, according to data in a Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond report.
In a survey conducted earlier this month of firms using AI since early 2022 in the Richmond, Virginia region, 45 per cent said they were automating tasks to reduce staffing and labour costs.
Artificial intelligence generated text - another possibility for the technology.Credit: Getty Images
The survey also found that almost all the firms are using automation technology to increase output.
“CFOs say their firms are tapping AI to automate a host of tasks, from paying suppliers, invoicing, procurement, financial reporting, and optimising facilities utilisation,” said Duke finance professor John Graham, academic director of the survey of 450 financial executives.
“This is on top of companies using ChatGPT to generate creative ideas and to draft job descriptions, contracts, marketing plans, and press releases.”
The report stated that over the past year almost 60 per cent of companies surveyed have “have implemented software, equipment, or technology to automate tasks previously completed by employees.”
“These companies indicate that they use automation to increase product quality (58 per cent of firms), increase output (49 per cent), reduce labor costs (47 per cent), and substitute for workers (33 per cent).”
In a speech on Friday, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said, “we may well also be seeing a move up in productivity, driven perhaps by automation or even AI”.
But workers can take comfort from Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas data, which showed that among the nearly 40 per cent of Texas firms now using AI, the impact on employment so far has been minimal.
And AI has not yet taken over all workplaces, the Richmond Fed survey found.
Only 46 per cent of all the firms said they had added technology to automate what had been employees’ tasks since January 2022.
AI adaptation was more common among manufacturing firms, with 53 per cent of them using the technology, than service sector companies, which reported just 43 per cent.
Bloomberg with Chris Zappone
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