AI is making managers nervous

Nearly half of managers surveyed said AI is a "threat to their pay" and will "fuel wage declines" across the US this year, a Beautiful.ai poll showed.

• Nearly half of US managers surveyed by Beautiful.ai worry that AI tools can lower wages.
• Some managers say tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT could do their jobs better than them. 
• Still, the majority of bosses use AI to help manage their teams, per the survey. 

Managers are worried that using powerful generative AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT in the workplace might cut their salaries.

Beautiful.ai, an AI startup, surveyed 3,000 Americans in management positions to understand their attitudes toward the technology's usage.

Of those surveyed, 48% of managers reported that AI tools are a "threat to their pay" and will "fuel wage declines" across the country in 2024.

That fear partly stems from the belief that the technology can do their jobs more effectively, with 64% of those surveyed saying its output and productivity are "equal" and "potentially better" than the quality of work human managers can churn out.

After all, the technology has a slew of capabilities. ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, can generate videos, create marketing materials, and write lesson plans. In early March, Cognition unveiled Devin, the 'first AI software engineer' the startup claims could fix bugs and train AI models.

Bosses also seem concerned that tools may lower their employees' wages. Sixty-two percent of managers surveyed, according to Beautiful.ai, said their employees feel like AI could eventually put them out of their jobs. Forty-five percent of leaders said the technology will present an "opportunity to lower salaries" across the workforce.

"There's no doubt that the implementation of AI tools has employees questioning their value to a company," according to the survey.

The findings on manager pay concerns join a growing body of research that illustrates how workers feel the technology could impact their earnings. A Pollfish survey published last May found that nearly 79% of US workers across generations feared adopting AI would result in pay cuts.

And it may already be threatening some jobs. As of April 28, more than 70,000 workers in the tech industry have been laid off in 2024, according to data from job loss tracker Layoffs.fyi, which analysts say could be fueled by increased investments in AI. One CEO of an e-commerce company said he replaced 90% of his support staff with AI chatbots; a freelance copywriter claimed she started losing clients to ChatGPT.

Conversely, the technology has the potential to boost compensation. An Access Partnership study from last December found that employers are willing to offer at least a 30% pay bump to employees with AI skills. Major companies, too, are offering salaries well over six figures to attract talent. Generative AI has even created a cottage industry of side hustles like ChatGPT course instruction and content editing.

And while nobody really knows how AI will disrupt work, 64% of managers, according to Beautiful.ai, say they have been using it to help manage employees on a daily or weekly basis since the start of 2024.

"Businesses can expect to see a lot more from AI in the future, the survey writes. "It's not a matter of if they should adopt the technology in the workplace, but when."

Beautiful.ai didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication.