Experts interviewed by Yle however argue that the concerns about the impact of AI on employment levels are exaggerated, at least in the short and medium term.The demographic most concerned about the impact of AI on the job market is the younger generation, or those under the age of 35 years old. Image: AOP, kuvankäsittely: Ilkka Kemppinen / YleYle News15:45Slightly more than half of people in Finland are concerned that the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on working environments will lead to mass unemployment.That's according to the results of a survey carried out in July and August by Finnish pollster Taloustutkimus, which found that 51 percent of respondents completely or somewhat agreed with the statement that "AI will cause mass unemployment".The research also revealed that the demographic most concerned about the impact of AI on the job market is the younger generation, or those under the age of 35 years old.However, although it seems certain that AI will eliminate the need for certain jobs, specialists interviewed by Yle argued that the fears about widespread mass unemployment are unfounded, at least in the short and medium term."There are no signs of it, and economic research gives no reason to assume that this would happen," Finnish economist Ari Hyytinen said.Research on the impact of AI has so far not found any evidence that the technology has increased unemployment at national economy levels, with only slight impacts observed in some entry-level customer service positions.Ramin Izadi, a special researcher at the VATT Institute for Economic Research, meanwhile noted that people's concerns have been fuelled by the bold predictions of technology giants and AI company leaders, in which they have forecast which professions may disappear over the coming years."Their ideas about the development of the technology are certainly true, but their assessments of labour market development are probably badly wrong," he said, adding further that most jobs include several different tasks — so even if AI takes over some of the tasks, the job won't necessarily disappear."Many people think that AI automates and replaces jobs. In reality, it automates work tasks," Izadi added.For instance, while AI is already better than humans at identifying tumours in X-ray images, the interpretation of images is difficult to separate from a radiologist's other tasks, such as managing diagnostic processes, recognizing exceptional situations, and bearing legal responsibility for treatment.Hanken professor Ari Hyytinen (left) and VATT special researcher Ramin Izadi (right). Image: Henrietta Hassinen / Yle, kuvankäsittely: Eetu Pietarinen / YleAI as a job creatorIn addition to the argument that the effect of AI on the job market may be overstated, both Hyytinen and Izadi pointed out that it's very possible the technology may even lead to the creation of many new roles."Most of the work tasks we have today are ones that didn't even exist 50 years ago," Izadi said.The advent of the internet is a useful example. In the early days, professions such as software developers and network designers were in high demand. Years later, there was a boon for online store operators and social media managers.According to Hyytinen, this shows that throughout history new professions have emerged at roughly the same pace as old ones have disappeared."That's an empirical observation from the past, but not necessarily a necessity in the future," he said.Although both experts were certain AI will not lead to mass unemployment in the short to medium term, they also acknowledged that predicting the impact of AI in the longer term is practically an impossible task.This is because AI is developing extremely fast.For example, ChatGPT was first released to the public around December 2022 and now, less than four years later, AI agents are capable of independently performing very complex and multi-faceted tasks.