Nearly half of CEOs believe AI could replace their own jobs, says new poll—and 47% say that’s a good thing

Could synthetic intelligence take over your boss’ job? What about yours?

Nearly half of CEOs — 49% — say AI could successfully replace “most,” and even “all,” of their own roles, and 47% say it would even be a good thing, in response to a survey from on-line training platform edX. The ballot, published on Tuesday, surveyed 1,600 full-time U.S. employees, together with 800 C-suite executives and CEOs, in addition to 800 non-executive employees.

That represents “a very enlightened view,” says edX founder Anant Agarwal, who now serves as chief platform officer of edX’s mum or dad enterprise, 2U. Agarwal can also be a professor of electrical engineering and pc science at MIT, and has served on the CNBC Technology Executive Council Advisory Board.

“It is evident that a majority [of executives] assume that AI goes to be transformative,” he tells CNBC Make It. “I do not assume it is a flash within the pan. People believe that is massive, and that is most likely larger than the web.”

During Agarwal’s tenure as CEO of edX, he spent practically 80% of his time on “mundane” duties like “reviews and repeated displays, or saying the identical thing to a lot of folks in numerous methods,” he says.

AI could replace many of these rote duties. It could additionally deal with different CEO obligations, like analyzing market information and brainstorming methods to enhance a enterprise’ operations, some experts say.

It’ll be tougher for AI to duplicate many of the “smooth expertise” that outline a good CEO, like “vital considering, imaginative and prescient, creativity, teamwork, collaboration, inspiring folks, having the ability to pay attention and see,” says Agarwal.

That means human bosses will virtually actually preserve current, however their jobs might quickly look radically completely different. Delegating these mundane duties could assist CEOs deal with “the issues that make them CEOs … imaginative and prescient and dreaming about new merchandise and promoting,” Agarwal says.

CEOs aren’t the one ones whose obligations are under an AI microscope. On common, the C-suite executives surveyed by edX mentioned 49% of the abilities that exist in their present workforce will not be related by 2025, and 47% of their employees aren’t ready for the longer term of work.

The non-executive employees within the survey had a completely different outlook: Only 20% of them mentioned they believed AI could replace “most” or “all” of their jobs. But the executives famous that they are already trying to hire new workers with AI skills, with 87% saying they’re struggling to seek out such staff proper now.

In July, CNBC Make It reported that U.S. employers searching for AI expertise had been on the rise, and that the average role paid more than $146,000. But solely 24% of employees instructed edX that they are studying new AI expertise at their present jobs, and 39% mentioned they’d doubtless stop their job throughout the subsequent yr to seek out one with extra AI studying alternatives.

Notably, 62% of Gen Z respondents mentioned they’re studying new AI expertise to get a leg up on their colleagues, in response to the survey. The technique would possibly simply work, says Agarwal.

“I would not worry AI taking away my job. But, frankly, I might worry different employees who upskill in AI sooner than I can … taking away my job,” he says.

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