Fears that artificial intelligence will replace human jobs is running rampant, and for good reason. Already at risk, and increasingly so, are many positions that perform administrative, customer service and entry-level coding tasks, among others.
How far will this go? Could justified concern find its way even to the top of the corporate hierarchy — CEOs, CFOs and other C-suite roles? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, a lot of folks won’t shed many tears should it come to pass, judging by the results of a new survey.
The sentiment is far more prominent among men, almost half of whom (45.5%) said AI “should” replace such executives. That’s according to a poll of 2,180 U.S. adults by Watch Chest, a luxury watch retailer that often tracks trends tied to executive culture, professional achievement and how Americans perceive status, leadership and wealth.
Only about half that proportion of women (25.2%) felt the same, but that still represents a thick slice of the American population who think machines would be better at running companies than humans.
“The findings suggest women may be more skeptical of removing human judgment from high-stakes leadership decisions, especially when those decisions affect jobs, ethics, workplace culture, employee well-being, privacy and accountability,” Watch Chest suggested in a release.
The company also opined that organizations framing AI as a replacement for human leadership may risk alienating workers, customers and stakeholders who already worry that workplace decisions are becoming more distant, automated and difficult to challenge.
The research also found that higher-earning workers were more likely to support replacing executives with AI, with the exception of those earning at least $200,000 a year.
The greatest level of support, 54.6%, came from those making $150,000 to $199,999. One possible explanation, Watch Chest offered, is workplace exposure, with higher earners more likely to hold positions where AI is already being discussed as a productivity and strategy tool.
“They may be more familiar with performance dashboards, forecasting models, workflow automation and data-led decision-making,” Watch Chest wrote. “For this group, AI in leadership may sound less like science fiction and more like a faster version of systems already used in the workplace.”
The company didn’t suggest a rationale for why support for replacing executives fell off above the $200,000 earnings level, although most C-suite executives clearly are in that range and likely don’t favor themselves being replaced.
There were also distinctly disparate survey results in different U.S. regions, with the West Coast leading the way at 42.5% favoring such replacement, followed by the Northeast at 37.9%. The South clocked in at 29.8%, while the Midwest brought up the rear with 18.1%