Over a third of small business jobs to go as AI slammed as ‘no substitute’

A new survey of Aussie small businesses reveals which jobs are on the chopping block.

EXCLUSIVE

More than a third of Aussie small businesses already have - or plan to - replace some of their workforce with AI, a new survey has revealed.

It also found that 56 per cent of small business operators believe that AI will either reduce the number of people they employ or are unsure about the impact it will have on employee numbers.

AI use by small businesses is growing, with 41 per cent of Aussie small businesses saying they use it, compared to just 26 per cent of UK small businesses.

Of those Aussie small businesses using AI, the top three functions it’s being used for are:

• Administration tasks - 39 per cent

• Creative writing - 28 per cent

• Drafting internal or company communications - 20 per cent.

Use of AI language tools like ChatGPT have become widespread but could replace people in the workforce. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images.

The survey, conducted by business consultancy Peninsula Group, found that small businesses had several concerns about introducing AI.

Topping the list of concerns was the increased security risk, followed by the risk of a higher margin of error and the impact AI may have on quality of work.

The reputation risk of using AI was the lowest ranked concern, signalling how accepted technologies such as ChatGPT and Google Bard have become in a relatively short period of time.

Google Bard is another popular AI program. Picture: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP

David Price, Australia and NZ CEO of Employsure, a subsidiary of Peninsula Group, whose small business clients were among those who took part in the survey, told news.com.au that AI can be a great tool when used alongside people, rather than instead of them.

“I was interested to see that a third of employers believe that AI will reduce the number of employees at their company. AI is only as good as the way it is programmed, and there can be no substitute for knowledge and personal insight.”

Mr Price said that small businesses are right to be concerned about the security risks of using AI.

“We don’t allow ChatGPT on any of our corporate machines, because of intellectual property loss. We took a risk analysis globally and we felt that some of those questions could actually [reveal] our sales processes and our services processes, which are quite unique.”

He said given the way AI systems improve their algorithms based on machine learning there’s a real risk of businesses compromising their proprietary knowledge.

“If you put in your marketing, creative writing, some internal comms data in, is someone else going to be using that?”

Employsure Australia and New Zealand CEO David Price. Picture: Employsure.

Mr Price added that the security of data, and particularly third-party data, entered into unregulated AI platforms should also be a concern to all businesses, regardless of their size.

“The concerns around security make sense, given the general risk for employers opening themselves up for potential cyber attacks with increased use of unregulated AI platforms.”

The survey of 79,000 businesses was conducted across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK.

Ireland has embraced AI the most of the five countries surveyed, with 10 per cent of Irish employees saying it’s regularly used in their business – double the number in Canada, NZ and the UK.

Canadians were the most cautious, with 17 per cent of employers labelling AI as “highly detrimental”.

Originally published as Over a third of small business jobs to go as AI slammed as ‘no substitute’