AI x Future of Work(Asia)
PEICHIN TAY, JUNE 2024

“Technology continues to redefine andreimagine how we live our lives. Tomorrow
will belong to the countries, companies andentrepreneurs that work together to harness
its power for good.”
Tony Blair
Founder and Executive Chairman

We are now living in an AI-era

This revolution is self-reinforcing and unprecedented in scope, scale and speed

AI

AI is moving at
breakneckspeed, opening
up newpossibilities forgovernment

Semiconductors

CloudBig DataSatellites

Semiconductors
are the second
most tradedglobal good afteroil

More than 25%
of global
enterprise
workloads aredone on thecloud

99% of all data
since thebeginning of
human existence
has been
produced in thelast decade

Satellites are
becoming more
effective,cheaper, andcreating universal
coverage

Multi-fold challenges in the developing world

Increasing pressure to improve quality of life, drive economic prosperity,and manage climate-related risks
Access to compute as the next
digital divide

10%of the world’s richest
countries hold most of theworld’s computational power

AI is energy-intensive

Almost 5% of
global carbon
emissions

2x theelectricity
consumption
by 2026

LMICs lag behind in AI
governance strategy-setting

Highincomecountries

LMICs
30.0%

Training an AI model
uses more power than
100 households in a year
LMICs

High-income countries

The Global Context of Work

PEICHIN TAY, JUNE 2024

PEICHIN TAY, JUNE 2024

Industry 4.0: A Different Narrative
Past industrial revolutions
have tended to impact jobs (forgood and bad) at the lower endof the skills spectrum.
However, global studies arehighlighting AI’s impact onhigher-wage earners.

AI Is Projected to Have the Greatest Impact on Knowledge
Workers1

Knowledge workers…mostexposed to automation andaugmentation“Knowledge workers” will be the most
exposed to automation andaugmentation… 24% of clerical tasks
considered highly exposed(ILO 2023)

2

28% of employment acrossOECD countries
Occupations at the highest risks
account for about 28% of
employment on average acrossOECD countries.
(OECD 2022)

3

40% of global employment
exposed to AI, 60% in
advanced economies
Almost 40% of global employment is
exposed to AI, with the number
climbing to 60% in advancedeconomies due to their proportion ofhighly skilled jobs.
(IMF 2024)

The Good, The Bad, and the Consensus

What’s good?

– Can improve job quality(replace dull, dirty, dangerouswork)– Can improve performance forlower-skilled workers– Can lead to higher wages
where there arecomplementary skills

What’s bad?

– Can lead to uneven income
distribution, wage divergence– Fears of displacement– Productivity paradox, ‘so-soautomation’– Unequal gender impact– Work surveillance,
infringement of privacy

What’s the consensus?

– Tech advancements tend tohave a net positive effect onemployment– Most likely impact is worktransformation, not elimination– Augmentation > automation– Tech can be steered towards
positive development andshared prosperity

A focus on Asia

Asia’s Unique Labour Market Environment
Large Informal Sector

Quality of Jobs

Outsourced Services• 60% Asian workforce arein the informal sector• Growth of digital labour
platforms and “microtasks”(58% STEM degreeholders)• Significant presence ofbusiness process
outsourcing (BPO) sector• Concerns over low wages
and inadequate protection• Data is not adequately
captured• De-skilling of workers• Creation of low-end
service economies• Nearly 20% of jobs in thePhilippines, and >10% ofjobs in India could be lost toAI

PEICHIN TAY, JUNE 2024

“What can we do to create shared prosperity?
The answer is not to slow down technology.
Instead of racing against the machine,
we need to race with the machine.
That is our grand challenge.”
Erik Brynjolfsson
Stanford University

Strengthening the Foundational Enablers
In LMICs, policymakers need to act urgently to bolster foundational
elements for a national AI-ready workforce
DigitalInfrastructure
Workforce
Development

DigitalConnectivity

Invest in affordable digital infrastructure and access
1/3 global population is offline despite near universal coverage

Human Capital

Design specific support programmes for those affected more
Lower-wage workers are 14x more likely to need to change
occupations

Worker Rights

Elevate rights of all workers, incl informal, non-standard ones
Due to rising informality, all workers regardless of status shouldbe able to access a core set of worker rights and protections

Safeguards

Implement policies that promote equitable and ethicalintegration of AI

Worker Rightsand Protection

Achieving a More Balanced Distributional Effect
Policymakers need to act pro-actively to realise the potential of AIand steer it towards shared prosperity and sustainable development
National and/orRegional Level

Enterprise Level

Workers

Direction of Tech

Develop a systematic humancapital approach, by linking
education & skills with industrial
policies; direct investment to‘green sectors’ (100m new jobsby 2030)

Encourage more companies,
especially SMEs, to adopt AI so
as to reap its benefits (e.g.,Trailblazer programme inSingapore)

Incentivise employers tosupport middle- and lowskilled workers so that they canbenefit the most from AI
technologies (i.e., ‘sociallevelling’) and the climatechange transition (‘green jobs’)

Steer development anddeployment towards labourcomplementary tech - awayfrom automation and towards
augmentation (e.g., safety vssurveillance)

“For our workers, AI should be about
turning challenges into chances,problems into potential, andbarriers into breakthroughs.”

“For our workers, AI should be about
turning challenges into chances,problems into potential, andbarriers into breakthroughs.”
PeiChin Tay + ChatGPT
Senior Policy Advisor

v4oCheck out our latest reporton ‘Greening AI’ here:

Contact
PeiChin Tay
Senior Policy Advisor
P.Tay@institute.global

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