Heavy investment in artificial intelligence is helping keep global economic growth around 3% but it also poses a threat to the global job market as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on Monday.
Speaking at the annual IMF-World Bank meetings in Bangkok, Georgieva described the rise of AI as a "slow-moving tsunami" that will deeply affect labor markets, education and taxation.
According to IMF research, AI will impact around 40% of jobs globally with that number rising to 60% in advanced economies through job augmentation, downgrade or outright elimination. While early entry-level positions are already seeing lower demand, sectors like construction and data center management are seeing hiring growth.
Despite these challenges, AI spending is delivering a major investment shock. The boom is expected to boost growth in advanced Asian economies by up to 1 percentage point and emerging Asian nations by up to 0.8 percentage points.
Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned that governments must act quickly to prevent AI from widening the wealth gap between developing and developed nations.
Meanwhile the World Bank President Ajay Banga noted that developing countries can use "small AI" tools which require less computing power to improve productivity in agriculture, healthcare and education without losing jobs.
