A new study from the McKinsey Global Institute has revealed the potential for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to create significant productivity growth in various industries across the world. Programs like ChatGPT and Bard, as well as image generators like Stable Diffusion, have been showing promise in generating machine-made novels, images, and videos which can revolutionize how various industries operate.
According to the experts from McKinsey, the GenAI technologies worldwide could increase annual productivity by 2.4 to 4.1 trillion euros. That’s around the same size as the GDP of the UK. Existing AI technologies such as machine learning are predicted to yield an additional 10-40% growth in comparison to GenAI.
The study identified customer service, software development, marketing, and research and development as the top beneficiaries of GenAI. The AI could enhance customer interaction by creating and responding to queries independently. Examples of the program’s use include writing code for software development and content creation such as novels.
Industries that could be heavily impacted by GenAI include finance, media, and life sciences. The use of GenAI in banks alone could yield an additional yearly value of €185-€315 billion. Industries like retail and consumer goods could gain the most, with additional yearly value estimated to range from €370-€610 billion.
The McKinsey Global Institute also predicts considerable changes for the job market. The technology has the potential to automate a significant amount of complex and highly-paid jobs. As GenAI is constantly improving, Lehrberufs which require natural language processing and machine learning such as IT and creative industries are predicted to feel its impact most. Job positions that require physical labor, such as builders, are least affected by the GenAI revolution.
The McKinsey study found that the integration of GenAI technology would lead to the elimination of manual routine tasks, thus freeing up more time for manual workers to be involved in more creative and innovative tasks. Work performance is expected to increase significantly, resulting in the overall improvement of productivity in related industries.
Overall, GenAI is expected to contribute significantly to economic and technological growth in the coming years.
