Will artificial intelligence replace humans?

As part of the Distinguished Guest lecture series, MCI | Entrepreneurial School® was pleased to welcome Hermann Erlach, General Manager & CEO of Microsoft Austria

The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) is often at the centre of discussions when it comes to the future of the labour market. Will we lose our jobs, what training still makes sense?

Hermann Erlach, General Manager and CEO of Microsoft Austria since May 2021, has reassuring news: "Artificial intelligence will not replace jobs, but workers with have AI skills will replace those who don't."

Today, 'Prompting' can already be found as a requirement in job advertisements. This is the specific command information required to successfully operate programs such as Chat GPD. The input must be as detailed as possible, just as a director has to think about lighting, sound, environmental influences, actors and much more, in order to get a successful result from the software.

To maintain prosperity in Austria, we urgently need the support of artificial intelligence

In view of an impending wave of retirements that could affect up to 35% of current jobs in the next five years, Austria faces the challenge of securing its prosperity in areas such as education and medical care. Artificial intelligence offers so many opportunities to support existing workers.

As an example, Erlach mentions an Austrian cheese manufacturer that can no longer find employees and now uses language models to operate and repair the production machines.

Progress? We are blocking ourselves!

Austria and the European Union are currently focusing too much on data protection and therefore losing sight of the productivity of AI, Erlach fears. "We are discussing the good and evil of AI, but there are simply too few people in the labour market in Austria and Europe," says Erlach, backing up his statement.
Data protection must be kept in mind, he summarizes his talk. The EU has a unique opportunity here to take a leading role in the AI market and shape the ethical requirements of AI, as the current market leaders, the USA and China, are showing little interest in this topic.