As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly continues to evolve, experts and OpenAI’s CEO were asked Tuesday at a Congressional hearing to discuss its potential impact on jobs in the U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke on the potential displacement of millions of workers, due to the new industrial revolution brought by AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested Congress consider licensing, testing, and other certification requirements for AI companies in order to mitigate and avoid long-term damage.
With AI increasingly becoming integrated into daily life, businesses and organizations today are already looking to capitalize on the technology. OpenAI’s chatbot tool, ChatGPT has been discussed as a way to take away job openings such as those in the Palo Alto City Council. Levent Ertaul, professor and chair of the Computer Science Department for California State University, East Bay pointed out that the software engineering industry will need to undergo a major transformation. Ahmed Banafa, professor of engineering at San Jose State University, further added that new jobs such as ‘prompt engineers’ working with human-AI interaction and AI policy experts will be created alongside the displacement of others.
OpenAI has been on the forefront of AI research, deploying its own chatbot technology and offering grants to AI-focused entities across the world. Founded in 2015, the software research and development company has used its collaboration with Microsoft to provide their AI platforms to over 400 companies in 2019 alone. OpenAI continues to look ahead with developing AI solutions for the future and the safety of the workers whose jobs may depend on the technology.