In its Work Trend Index 2024 report, Microsoft partnered with LinkedIn to provide an overview of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the world of work. The report highlights the growing role of AI in business and its influence on employees, businesses and the job market as a whole.
Artificial intelligence (AI), in its broadest sense, is the intelligence exhibited by machines, particularly computer systems. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined objectives. These machines can be called AI.
A year ago, generative AI burst onto the scene, and for the first time since the smartphone, people began to change the way they interact with technology. People are putting AI to work on an unexpected scale – and the big question now is how it’s happening.
As AI becomes ubiquitous in the workplace, employees and businesses are under extreme pressure. The pace and intensity of work, which accelerated during the pandemic, has not eased, so employees are bringing their own AI to work. Executives recognize that AI is a business imperative – and feel the pressure to show immediate ROI – but many lack a plan or vision to move from individual impact to the application of AI for improve results.
At the same time, the job market is set to evolve and a new AI economy is taking shape. While some professionals worry that AI will replace their jobs, the data tells a more nuanced story – one of a hidden talent shortage, more employees considering a career change, and a massive opportunity for those ready to upskill.
“AI is democratizing expertise in the workforce,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft Chairman and CEO. Our latest research highlights the opportunity for every organization to apply this technology to improve decision-making, collaboration – and ultimately business results.
For its fourth annual Work Trend Index, released May 8, 2024, Microsoft partnered with LinkedIn for the first time on a joint report to provide a comprehensive view of how AI is not only reshaping work, but also the job market more generally. Microsoft and LinkedIn surveyed 31,000 people in 31 countries, identified work and hiring trends, analyzed trillions of productivity signals from Microsoft 365, and conducted research with Fortune 500 customers. The data highlights highlights what all leaders and professionals need to know – and what actions they can take – regarding the implications of AI for work.
1. Workers want AI at work – and won’t wait for companies to catch up.
Three in four knowledge workers (75%) use AI at work today. Overwhelmed and under pressure employees say AI saves them time, boosts their creativity and allows them to focus on their most important work.
While 79% of executives recognize that the adoption of AI is essential to remaining competitive, 59% of them are concerned about quantifying the productivity gains of AI and 60% fear that their company does not have a vision and a plan to implement it.
While leaders feel compelled to turn individual productivity gains into organizational impact, employees aren’t waiting to reap the rewards: 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools to work. The opportunity for each manager is to channel this momentum towards a return on investment.
2. For employees, AI raises the bar and breaks the career ceiling.
Microsoft also notes that AI is starting to have an impact on the job market. While AI and job loss are top of mind for some, data shows more people are considering a career change, there are jobs available, and employees with AI skills will be the first to be recruited. The majority of executives (55%) say they are concerned they won’t have enough talent to fill open positions this year, with executives in cybersecurity, engineering and creative design sectors most affected.
And the professionals are on the lookout. Forty-six percent of people surveyed globally plan to resign in the coming year – an all-time high since the big 2021 shakeup – and a separate LinkedIn study found the US numbers were even higher, 85 % of them considering a career change. While two-thirds of executives would not hire someone without AI skills, only 39% of users have received AI training from their company. Professionals therefore improve on their own.
Since the end of last year, Microsoft and LinkedIn have seen a 142-fold increase in the number of LinkedIn members adding AI skills like Copilot and ChatGPT to their profiles, as well as a 160% increase in non-professional professionals. techniques using LinkedIn learning courses to develop their AI skills.
In a world where mentions of AI in job postings on LinkedIn lead to a 17% increase in applications, this is a two-way street: Organizations that equip their employees with tools and AI training courses will attract top talent, and upskilling professionals will have the advantage.
3. The rise of AI users – and what they reveal about the future.
The study highlighted four types of AI users, ranging from skeptics who rarely use AI to power users who make extensive use of it. Compared to skeptics, AI power users have repurposed their workdays in fundamental ways, reimagining business processes and saving more than 30 minutes per day. More than 90% of seasoned users say AI makes their overwhelming workload more manageable and their job more enjoyable, but they don’t do it alone.
Power users work for a different type of business. They are 61% more likely to have heard their CEO talk about the importance of using generative AI at work, 53% more likely to be encouraged by management to think about how AI can transform their role and 35% more likely to receive AI training tailored to their specific role or function.
“AI is redefining work and it’s clear we need new playbooks,” said Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn. It is the leaders who build for agility instead of stability and who invest in building skills internally that will give their organization a competitive advantage and create more effective, more engaged and more equitable teams.
The prompt window is the new blank page
A recurring comment from Microsoft customers is that it’s harder than it seems to talk about artificial intelligence. We’ve all learned how to use a search engine, identifying the few words that get the best results. AI requires more context – just like when you delegate work to a colleague or direct manager. But for many, looking at this empty dialog box is like being faced with a blank page: Where to start?
Today, Microsoft is announcing innovations in Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help customers answer this question.
If you have the start of a prompt, Copilot will offer to autocomplete it for a better result, suggesting something more detailed to make sure you get what you’re looking for. This not only speeds things up, but also gives you new ideas on how to harness the power of Copilot.
Other times, you know exactly what you want, but you don’t know how to ask for it. With its new rewrite feature, Copilot transforms a basic prompt into a rich prompt with a single click, turning everyone into a prompt engineer.
Catch Up, a new chat interface that surfaces personal information based on your recent activity, provides responsive recommendations, such as You have a meeting with the VP of Sales on Thursday. We’ll prepare you – click here for detailed notes.
Microsoft also knows that each role, each team and each function has its own needs and ways of working. To help you create guests that match your work exactly, you will soon be able to create, publish, and manage guests in Copilot Lab that are specifically tailored to your closest teams.
These features will be available in the coming months and, in the future, Microsoft will go even further: Copilot will ask you questions to allow you to work to the best of your abilities.
LinkedIn has also made more than 50 learning courses free to help professionals of all levels improve their AI skills.
Visit WorkLab for the full Work Trend Index report, and LinkedIn to hear from LinkedIn Chief Economist Karin Kimbrough on how AI is reshaping the labor market.
Source : Microsoft
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