BBC原文阅读链接：https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230418-ai-anxiety-artificial-intelligence-replace-jobs

Many workers worry AI is coming for their jobs. Can we get past the fear and find a silver lining?

许多工人担心人工智能会取代他们的工作。我们能否克服恐惧，寻找一线希望？

Claire has worked as a PR at a major consulting firm, based in London, for six years. The 34-year-old enjoys her job and earns a comfortable salary, but in the past six months, she’s started to feel apprehensive about the future of her career. The reason: artificial intelligence.

克莱尔（Claire）在伦敦一家大型咨询公司担任公关工作已经六年了。这位34岁的女士喜欢她的工作，获得了舒适的薪水，但在过去的六个月里，她开始对她职业生涯的未来感到担忧。原因是人工智能。

“I don’t think the quality of the work that I’m producing could be matched by a machine just yet,” says Claire, whose last name is being withheld to protect her job security. “But at the same time, I’m amazed at how quickly ChatGPT has become so sophisticated. Give it a few more years, and I can absolutely imagine a world in which a bot does my job just as well as I can. I hate to think what that might mean for my employability.”

“我认为目前我所做的工作质量还无法被机器匹配，”克莱尔说道，她的姓氏被隐瞒以保护她的工作安全。“但与此同时，我惊讶于ChatGPT变得如此复杂的速度。再过几年，我绝对可以想象到一个机器人可以像我一样胜任我的工作。我不敢想象这对我的就业会意味着什么。”

In recent years, as headlines about robots stealing human jobs have proliferated – and as generative AI tools like ChatGPT have quickly become more accessible – some workers report starting to feel anxious about their futures and whether the skills they have will be relevant to the labour market in years to come.

近年来，随着有关机器人夺走人类工作的头条新闻不断涌现，以及像ChatGPT这样的生成式人工智能工具迅速变得更加可接近，一些工人开始感到对自己的未来和他们所拥有的技能是否会在未来几年内与劳动力市场相关的焦虑。

In March, Goldman Sachs published a report showing that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. Last year, PwC’s annual global workforce survey showed that almost a third of respondents said they were worried about the prospect of their role being replaced by technology in three years.

去年，普华永道的全球劳动力调查显示，近三分之一的受访者表示他们担心在三年内他们的工作被技术取代。今年三月，高盛发布了一份报告，显示人工智能可能会取代相当于3亿全职工作。

“I think a lot of creatives are concerned,” says Alys Marshall, a 29-year-old copywriter based in Bristol, UK. “We’re all just hoping that our clients will recognise [our] value, and choose the authenticity of [a human] over the price and convenience of AI tools.”

“我认为很多创意人士都很担心，”29岁的英国布里斯托尔（Bristol）撰稿人艾丽丝·马歇尔（Alys Marshall）说道。“我们都希望我们的客户能认识到我们的价值，并选择人类的真实性而不是AI工具的价格和便利性。”

Now, career coaches and HR experts are saying that although some anxiety might be justified, employees need to focus on what they can control. Instead of panicking about possibly losing their jobs to machines, they should invest in learning how to work alongside technology. If they treat it as a resource and not a threat, add the experts, they’ll make themselves more valuable to potential employers – and feel less anxious.

现在，职业教练和人力资源专家表示，虽然有些焦虑可能是有道理的，但员工需要专注于他们可以控制的事情。他们不应该惊慌失措地担心可能会失去工作，而是应该投资学习如何与技术合作。专家们补充说，如果他们将其视为一种资源而不是威胁，他们将使自己对潜在雇主更有价值，并减少焦虑感。

Fear of the unknown

For some people, generative AI tools feel as if they’ve come on fast and furious. OpenAI’s ChatGPT broke out seemingly overnight, and the “AI arms race” is ramping up more every day, creating continuing uncertainty for workers.

对于一些人来说，生成式人工智能工具似乎迅速而猛烈地出现了。OpenAI的ChatGPT似乎在一夜之间就爆红了，而“人工智能竞赛”每天都在加剧，为工人们带来持续的不确定性。

Carolyn Montrose, a career coach and lecturer at Columbia University in New York, acknowledges the pace of technological innovation and change can be scary. “It is normal to feel anxiety about the impact of AI because its evolution is fluid, and there are many unknown application factors,” she says.

纽约哥伦比亚大学的职业教练和讲师卡罗琳·蒙特罗斯（Carolyn Montrose）承认，技术创新和变革的速度可能令人感到害怕。她说：“对人工智能的影响感到焦虑是正常的，因为它的演变是流动的，而且有许多未知的应用因素。”

But as unnerving as the new technology is, she also says workers don’t necessarily have to feel existential dread. People have the power to make their own decisions about how much they worry: they can either “choose to feel anxious about AI, or empowered to learn about it and use it to their advantage”.

但是，尽管这种新技术令人不安，她还是说，工人们不一定必须感到存在主义的恐惧。人们有权利自己决定他们有多担心：他们可以“选择感到焦虑，还是有能力学习它并将其用于自己的利益”。

PwC’s Scott Likens, who specialises in understanding issues around trust and technology, echoes this. “Technology advancements have shown us that, yes, technology has the potential to automate or streamline work processes. However, with the right set of skills, individuals are often able to progress alongside these advancements,” he says. “In order to feel less anxious about the rapid adoption of AI, employees must lean into the technology. Education and training [are] key for employees to learn about AI and what it can do for their particular role as well as help them develop new skills. Instead of shying away from AI, employees should plan to embrace and educate.”

普华永道的斯科特·利肯斯（Scott Likens）专门研究与信任和技术相关的问题，他也对此表示赞同。他说：“技术进步向我们展示了，是的，技术有潜力自动化或简化工作流程。然而，凭借一套正确的技能，个人通常能够随着这些进步而进步。”他说：“为了减少对人工智能的快速采用感到焦虑，员工必须借助技术。教育和培训对于员工了解人工智能以及它对他们特定角色的作用以及帮助他们发展新技能至关重要。员工不应该回避人工智能，而是应该计划拥抱和学习。”

It may also be helpful to remember that, according to Likens, “this isn’t the first time we have encountered industry disruptions – from automation and manufacturing to e-commerce and retail – we have found ways to adapt”. Indeed, the introduction of new technology has often been unnerving for some people, but Montrose explains that plenty good has come from past new developments: she says technological change has always been a key ingredient for society’s advancement.

蒙特罗斯解释说，也许记住这一点会有所帮助，即“这不是我们第一次遭遇行业的颠覆——从自动化和制造业到电子商务和零售业——我们已经找到了适应的方法”。的确，新技术的引入经常令某些人感到不安，但蒙特罗斯解释说，过去的新发展带来了许多好处：她说，技术变革一直是社会进步的关键因素。

Regardless of how people respond to AI technology, adds Montrose, it’s here to stay. And it can be a lot more helpful to remain positive and look forward. “If people feel anxious instead of acting to improve their skills, that will hurt them more than the AI itself,” she says.

无论人们如何回应人工智能技术，蒙特罗斯补充说，它都将存在下去。保持积极并向前看可能会更有帮助。她说：“如果人们感到焦虑而不是采取行动改善

这不是我们第一次遭遇行业颠覆——从自动化和制造业到电子商务和零售业——我们已经找到了适应的方法——斯科特·利肯斯。

Unique value of humans

Although experts say some level of anxiety is justified, it may not be time to hit the panic button yet. Some research has recently shown fears of robots taking over human jobs might be overblown.

人类的独特价值

尽管专家表示某种程度的焦虑是有道理的，但现在可能还不是按下恐慌按钮的时候。最近的一些研究表明，担心机器人接管人类工作的恐惧可能被夸大了。

November 2022 research by sociology professor Eric Dahlin at Brigham Young University in Utah, US, showed that not only are robots not replacing human workers at the rate most people believe, but some people also misperceive the rate at which automation tools are taking over. His data showed about 14% of workers said they had seen their job replaced by a robot. But both workers who had experienced job displacement due to technology as well as those who hadn’t tended to overstate the pace and volume of the trend – their estimates were far off reality.

美国犹他州布里格姆扬大学的社会学教授埃里克·达林在2022年11月的研究显示，机器人并没有以大多数人所认为的速度取代人类工人，而且一些人也错误地误判了自动化工具接管的速度。他的数据显示，约有14%的工人表示他们的工作被机器人取代了。但是，那些因技术而失去工作的工人以及那些没有失去工作的工人都倾向于高估这种趋势的速度和规模 - 他们的估计远远超出了现实。

“Overall, our perceptions of robots taking over is greatly exaggerated. Those who hadn’t lost jobs overestimated by about double, and those who had lost jobs overestimated by about three times,” said Dahlin in presenting his research. While Dahlin said that some new technologies would likely be adopted and implemented without considering all implications, it’s also true that “just because a technology can be used for something does not mean that it will be implemented”.

达林在介绍他的研究时说：“总体而言，我们对机器人接管的看法被夸大了。那些没有失去工作的人高估了大约两倍，而那些失去工作的人高估了大约三倍。”虽然达林表示，一些新技术可能会在没有考虑所有影响的情况下被采用和实施，但也确实存在“仅仅因为一项技术可以用于某些事情并不意味着它会被实施”。

Stefanie Coleman, a principal in consultancy EY's people advisory services business, also points out that we shouldn’t expect the workforce of the future to be “binary”. In other words, a combination of both humans and robots will always need to exist.

咨询公司EY人力资源咨询服务业务的负责人斯特凡妮·科尔曼也指出，我们不应该期望未来的劳动力是“二进制”的。换句话说，人类和机器人的组合将始终存在。

"Humans will always have a role to play in business by performing the important work that robots cannot. This kind of work typically requires innate human qualities, such as relationship building, creativity and emotional intelligence,” she says. "Recognising the unique value of humans in the workforce, when compared to machines, is an important step in navigating the fears that surround this topic."

她说：“人类将始终在业务中发挥作用，通过执行机器人无法完成的重要工作。这种工作通常需要人类固有的特质，如建立关系、创造力和情感智力。”“认识到人类在劳动力中与机器相比的独特价值是解决围绕这个话题的恐惧的重要一步。”

A few weeks ago, Claire, the PR worker, decided she wanted to start learning more about the technology that’s transforming her industry. She’s now researching online courses through which she hopes to learn to code. “A lot of tech used to scare me, so I just ignored it, but based on everything I’m seeing, that’s sort of stupid,” she says. “Ignoring something definitely won’t make it go away, and I’m slowly starting to understand that if I take the time to make it less unfamiliar – which makes it less scary – it might actually be able to help me a lot.”

几周前，公关工作者克莱尔决定开始学习更多关于正在改变她行业的技术。她正在研究在线课程，希望通过这些课程学习编程。“以前我很害怕技术，所以我忽略了它，但根据我所看到的一切，那样做肯定是愚蠢的。”她说。“忽略某事肯定不会使它消失，我正在逐渐明白，如果我花时间让它变得不那么陌生 - 这样它就不那么可怕了 - 它可能真的能够帮助我很多。”

Overall, although automation and robotics technology are rapidly developing, humans still have unique values and advantages, such as interpersonal relationship building, creativity, and emotional intelligence. Therefore, we should not overly worry about the issue of robots taking over human jobs, but should actively learn and adapt to new technologies to better respond to future challenges.

总的来说，虽然自动化和机器人技术正在迅速发展，但是人类仍然具有独特的价值和优势，比如人际关系建立、创造力和情感智力等方面。因此，我们不应该过分担心机器人接管人类工作的问题，而是应该积极学习和适应新技术，以更好地应对未来的挑战。