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Digitalization and AI influence individuals’ daily lives and provide new opportunities for businesses and personal use. The impact of AI on working environments and social lives have an increasing influence on society (Tredinnick, 2017; Ferràs-hernández, 2018). The creation of new businesses and the development of new solutions for customers is a great opportunity for companies to improve their products and be more successful (Fuhrer & Cucchi, 2012). This paper concentrates on the influence of artificial intelligence on employment and the situation of employees.
Artificial intelligence and digital transformation are changing the daily work of individuals. The new processes supported by new digital tools change the daily work of all individuals (Helbing, 2014). Machines are cooperating with individuals; software’s are analysing situations and providing more accurate results and call centres use tools to investigate the mute of customers to improve service to them. This situation is dangerous and difficult for a number of employees because their current work will disappear or change heavily. In this context, people have existential fears and they expect to lose their job or not be able to fulfil the new requirements. Moreover, there is the assumption that a machine or tool is more effective and efficient and that human work will no longer be needed (Mesquita et al., 2019). This paper investigates the opinions of individuals about the new situation and provides some insights about how they evaluate their own chances and risks.
Knowing, analysing and evaluating the fears and feelings of employees or potential employees contributes to support the management of companies and their leaders to be successful. One major fear is the uncertainty if the current role of the employee will exist in the next 5 or 10 years (AGOF e.V., 2014; Frank et al., 2019; Ochetan & Ochetan, 2012). Furthermore, it is crucial to understand their fears in order to reduce the risk of employees leaving the company. Since employees are frustrated about this situation it leads to decreased productivity. Leadership and controlling are also supported by AI. The analysis of daily work is done by a software and the number of collected data is only increasing. Big data is a huge issue for companies and that is supported by AI. It also contributes to decisions being based on facts and figures (Schroeder, 2016). Companies are prepared and have the necessity to answer to their employees if they change any processes or engage in a digital transformation change (Caserta & Madsen, 2019; Archambault, 2014). Additionally, they should be responsible for supporting their employees in that difficult situation and be prepared for the future if their labour is substituted by AI. Obviously, the digitalization increases the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, eventually making the company more successful and accurate in their production. This is one change which will be an advantage for companies, but is that an advantage for employees too or would it be the reason to leave the company (Alexander et al., 2017)? Technology makes employees replaceable and leads to mass unemployment– this is called technical unemployment. These changes can increase the requirements for employees and reduce the workload (Boyd & Holton, 2018). In history, technical changes and innovations are responsible for increasing the need of employees and the creation of new employment opportunities. These innovations are responsible for the improvement of life of employees and reduction of production cost (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2019). That motivates companies to be more competitive. For example, companies can reduce the prices of their products and stimulate demand or create more variations of their products to fulfil special needs or desires of their customers (Dahlin, 2019). The level of demand for skills and knowledge is increasing and requirements are changing.