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(Bloomberg) — Artificial intelligence is increasingly expected to lower Britain’s level of employment during the next decade, according to a poll of executives, with entry-level roles bearing the brunt.
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Around half of business leaders fear net job losses across the economy, the Accenture research shows, up from a third when the survey took place two years ago.
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The authors of the report, shared with Bloomberg, warned of a vicious cycle. “If leaders assume displacement is inevitable,” they wrote, “the incentive to invest in workforce transition weakens.”
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Young people are most at risk. The share of leaders who expect AI to boost demand for entry-level roles has collapsed to 15% from 40% two years ago. Almost 40% now expect AI to reduce demand for entry-level roles, up from about a fifth.
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Youth unemployment has become a pressing problem for Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the share of jobless 16-24 year-olds is at its highest in a decade, due to a mix of steep employment costs and technology affecting white-collar sectors.
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Matt Prebble, the CEO of Accenture’s UK and Ireland business, said the UK has to “get its swagger back,” speaking in an interview. He urged executives to focus on using the technology as a “driver of quality and revenue, not just efficiency.”
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The report showed Britons are quickly adopting AI to enhance their work. Almost a fifth of employees now use generative AI daily, three times as many as two years ago.
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But progress at the company level is much slower, suggesting that AI won’t show up in the UK’s GDP numbers anytime soon. AI is still mainly used for minor tasks rather than key processes, and businesses have not yet changed their systems and workflows to support it.
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This disconnect between workers and their bosses reflects different approaches to AI. Workers use it to improve the quality of their work, while leaders tend to see it mainly as a way to cut costs rather than grow revenue, the survey showed.
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However, looking at 17 industries, Accenture found that AI could boost revenue by more than twice as much as it could save in labor costs, with energy, life sciences and retail among the top winners.
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Accenture’s findings are based on a survey of 2,085 employees and 510 business executives across the UK and Northern Ireland between February and March.
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