Legal Experts Discuss The Artificial Intelligence Takeover On Jobs – TechRound

Experts have shared their views on the highly discussed question: will AI take over jobs?Thomson Reuter’s Future of Professionals Report 2024 shows that 77% of the people who were surveyed believe AI and GenAI are going to highly impact their careers by 2029. Last year, the number was less at 67%.

This is due to the fact that professionals are becoming more aware of how AI can be used, and the fear that AI will completely remove experts of their well earned positions, isn’t necessarily true. AI, according to different industry leaders, can bring value and increase productivity.
 

What Are Law’s Views?

 
AI has its benefits, such as being able to free up to 4 hours of work each week, and The Thomson Reuter report states that 79% of UK lawyers think AI will highly impact the law industry within 5 years.

Even though many were previously anxious about the effect AI might have on the legal field, experts argue that AI cannot completely take over the industry, instead, it’ll help them and make their jobs more efficient. The law industry mentioned that they use AI to write case law summaries, meeting minutes, summarising tax articles, among other tasks.

“The role of a good lawyer is as a ‘trusted advisor’ not as a producer of documents… breadth of experience is where a lawyer’s true value lies and that will remain valuable, including to in-house legal teams,” an expert in the legal field commented.
 

Nations On AI’s Impact On Jobs

 
While lawmakers are not too concerned, entire nations seem to be unprepared for AI taking over, as a report from Slingo shows. It looked at different aspects from population to internet usage and job diversity. Cybersecurity laws are the most overlooked when it comes to a lot of the worst prepared nations.
 

 
According to the research, South Korea finds itself least capable of handling an AI-powered life. The country’s high population density combined with a lack of cybersecurity laws makes it especially vulnerable. South Korea has one of the lowest counts of secure jobs against AI, making them at risk of “job automation” taking over low-skill jobs.

“With the highest population density on the list of 530 people per square kilometre, it’s no surprise South Korea is the worst equipped for an AI takeover. The East Asian nation also ranks last for its number of cybersecurity laws, with just two, and places second-last for its proportion of jobs safe from automation, with only two per 100,000 people,” they report.

Even though Switzerland is well known for its technologically advanced infrastructure, the study shows they are quite unprepared, with cybersecurity laws also being a barrier.

The most prepared countries are France, and this is because they have strong cybersecurity laws, and their policies address AI’s issues head on. Canada and the US are also ready, due to their low population densities and laws that support safe AI use, according to the study.
 

What Does A World With Safe AI Use Look Like?

 
The Thomson Reuter’s Future of Professionals Report details ways AI can work together with humans, to create better working conditions and processes, as opposed to taking over jobs and industries. The first, and most obvious way, is to make sure AI is used in an ethical way. “The vast majority (above 95% among legal and tax respondents) said they believe that allowing AI to represent clients in court or make final decisions on complex legal, tax, risk, fraud, and compliance matters would be a step too far.

“Yet, when it comes to AI providing client advice the professions differ – more than 80% of legal professionals said they believe using AI to provide legal advice would be unethical, but just half as many respondents objected to AI’s use in providing strategic tax planning or strategic advice on risk, fraud, and compliance issues.” The report shows that the most ethical way, according to 98% of legal and tax experts, is to use AI for admin purposes.

Thomas Reuter shares, “A brighter future lies ahead for professionals. Many professionals envision a future in which their work is more fulfilling, with AI handling routine tasks and freeing up time for expertise-driven work and better work-life balance. This optimism is shared by those who believe that GenAI will transform professional services – not by replacing jobs, but by handling mundane, repetitive tasks.”