McKinsey: The biggest losers in the prosperity of artificial intelligence are knowledge workers.

Which industries are most affected by AI?

According to the latest report released by consulting firm McKinsey, the prosperity of generative AI worldwide will usher in an era of accelerated productivity and greater prosperity for some, while for others, mainly knowledge workers, it will bring profound disruption.

According to McKinsey's research, business activities from sales and marketing to customer operations will be more closely integrated with AI software, with potential economic benefits of up to $4.4 trillion, or about 4.4% of current global economic output.

Lareina Yee, senior partner and chairman of McKinsey's technology company, said in the report that generative AI will inject much-needed productivity into the economy.

The study examined 63 cases of generative AI covering about 850 occupations. The study found that over the next 20 years, generative AI could increase productivity by between 0.1% and 0.6% depending on the degree of technology adoption and implementation.

The report states that this shift will put pressure on the workforce, especially high-paid knowledge workers who were previously thought to be relatively immune to automation.

A few years ago, McKinsey estimated that about half of global working hours were spent on tasks that could be automated. Now, McKinsey has raised that proportion to 60-70%. McKinsey says employees may find their time being reallocated - or their jobs disappearing:

Workers need support in learning new skills, and some may switch careers.

McKinsey believes that the four business functions most affected by generative AI are customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and R&D.

The report found that because new technology improves customer satisfaction, helps decision-making, and reduces fraud through better monitoring, the banking industry alone can generate an additional $200 billion to $340 billion in output by increasing productivity. This is equivalent to a 9% to 15% increase in operating profit.

McKinsey said that in product development, the technology can increase productivity by 10% to 15%. It cited examples from the life sciences and chemical industries, where AI can generate potential molecules faster, accelerating the development of new drugs and materials, which could increase profits for pharmaceutical and medical product companies by up to 25%.

The adoption of automation in developed economies will be faster and will have a far greater impact on white-collar jobs than on manual labor.

McKinsey believes that in this regard, AI may be the opposite of past major technological upgrades, which often came at the expense of lower-educated, lower-paid professions.

In addition, from a corporate structure perspective, AI is more likely to replace mid-level managers than junior employees.