According to a new study, AI could transform or replace as much as 70 per cent of tasks in computer-based jobs.

Experts from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in the UK said artificial intelligence was likely to have a “seismic impact” on the economy and society.

According to its new report on the technology, jobs reliant on computer-based tasks such as project management, marketing and administrative support are the most likely to be reshaped by the emergence of AI.

The think tank has called for greater government intervention on the issue, warning that AI policy is currently too focused on accelerating AI uptake and safety and not on the “implications of powerful AI.”

The study’s analysis of 22,000 common tasks performed by workers found that up to 70 per cent of these roles could be significantly transformed or replaced by AI.

It said AI would likely have the greatest impact on organisational, strategic and analytical tasks.

The intervention comes ahead of the Paris AI Action Summit next week, where world leaders, industry experts, tech executives and academics will meet to discuss the international approach to developing and using AI.

Last month, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled the government’s AI Action Plan – a range of measures designed to make the UK a global leader in AI while also boosting the economy.

That plan focused on increasing AI infrastructure in the UK to support more AI development, as well as creating growth zones around the country, advancing AI safety regulation, and using AI more within the civil service to cut spending and speed up work.

There has been ongoing debate on the potential impact of technology on the global jobs market, with many warnings about the danger of humans being displaced from work.

However, others, including some tech executives, have said AI aims to help workers with tasks and streamline their workloads rather than replace them.

In recent weeks, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has also launched its first of what are known as AI agents – AI tools which can be programmed to carry out specific tasks autonomously – a new branch of the technology which many see as having a substantial impact on both working and daily life.

Last year, a previous IPPR report warned that as many as eight million UK jobs could be at risk of being lost to AI in the “worst-case scenario.”

Carsten Jung, head of AI at the IPPR, warned that politics “needs to catch up” with the implications of AI.

“AI capabilities are advancing at breath-taking speed,” he said. “The launch of ‘AI agents’ shows AI is different from past technologies. It is not merely a tool – it is an actor.”

Elsewhere in its latest study, the IPPR said wider society was already being changed by AI – with approximately 930,000 people in the UK said to have an AI digital companion on the app Character.AI, adding many users had “relationships” with these chatbots.

The think tank warned that while these AI companions can provide emotional support, they also carry risks of addiction and potential long-term psychological impacts, particularly for young people.

(PA Media/dpa/NAN)