[Jjinbit] 'Nobel Prize Winner' British Economist "ChatGPT Opens the Door to a 4-Day Workweek"

"Expecting Reduced Working Hours by Increasing Productivity"
"Will Create More Jobs Rather Than Taking Away Human Jobs"

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jeong Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in changes in work.

Will OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has sparked a global craze for generative artificial intelligence (AI), lead to the adoption of a four-day workweek that office workers long for? While there are bleak forecasts that AI will replace various jobs and threaten employment, there are also evaluations that it can increase productivity, shorten working hours, and improve work-life balance (WLB).

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

◆ "Technology Changes Rapidly, but Companies Adopt Slowly"

Christopher Pissarides, Nobel laureate in economics and professor at the London School of Economics, evaluated in an interview with Bloomberg News released on the 4th (local time) that the ChatGPT revolution has opened the way to a four-day workweek. He said, "I am very optimistic about the fact that we can increase productivity," adding, "We will be able to expand our well-being beyond work, enjoy more leisure time, and easily transition to a four-day workweek."

Professor Pissarides, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2010, specializes in labor market economics. In March 2022, he launched an organization called the 'Pissarides Review' to study the impact of work automation on jobs. The organization expects that 15-30% of jobs will disappear within the next 10 years due to automation and is examining who will be most affected, how they should re-employ, and what phenomena inequality will lead to.

Professor Pissarides acknowledged that technology may have issues such as surveillance or privacy invasion but believed it could bring significant changes in terms of productivity. He emphasized, "It (technology) can reduce many boring tasks we have done at work, leaving only interesting tasks for humanity," and added, "Although technology changes rapidly, if companies adopt it slowly, the transition for workers will be less painful."

Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Prize in Economics laureate and professor at the London School of Economics, UK (Photo by London School of Economics website)

Regarding the open letter by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and AI experts calling for a six-month moratorium on technology development, Professor Pissarides said, "It will take a long time to have a real impact, and people will adapt during that time," adding, "The adaptation period requires new technology skills."

◆ "Drafting Emails and Other Documents Reduces Workload"

As the ChatGPT craze continues, the market is paying attention to the actual economic impact of AI. With both negative factors such as job reduction and positive factors such as productivity improvement coexisting, the outcome is currently unpredictable. The U.S. economic media Business Insider also reported through interviews with several experts that productivity improvements due to AI are likely to help pave the way for a four-day workweek.

Professor Carl Benedict Frey of Oxford University said, "All technologies that increase productivity, including ChatGPT, make it easier to shorten weekly working hours." Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has studied AI's impact on U.S. jobs, said, "Given the high uncertainty and rapid development of AI, if productivity improves due to AI, the likelihood of adopting a four-day workweek increases," especially predicting this phenomenon in professional occupations.

Professor Oded Netzer of Columbia University said that AI advancements will boost labor productivity and that such productivity improvements are essential for reducing our workload. Michael Chui, partner at McKinsey, suggested, "Most knowledge workers draft emails, documents, and designs," and having ChatGPT perform these tasks could be one way to reduce office workers' workload.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs forecasted in a report last month that "if changes occur simultaneously by significantly reducing costs in the labor market, creating new jobs, and increasing the productivity of workers who are not unemployed, it is highly likely to create a productivity boom that generally raises economic growth rates." They also predicted that AI will increase the global annual economic growth rate by 7%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.