The survey, which was conducted by PwC, quizzed 4,702 CEOs from over 100 different countries about the impact of AI in their respective industries.
Leaders in the media and entertainment, banking, insurance and logistics industries were most likely to predict job losses, due to the advent of new AI tools.
In contrast, the tech, metal, and constructing and engineering industries were the least likely to predict a reduction in employee headcounts.
The research, which was unveiled ahead of a gathering of world and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also points towards other trends predicted to come about with the use of AI.
Around 46% of those surveyed said that they expect the use of generative AI (which is capable of producing human-like text, images, or other media within seconds) to increase business profitability over the 12 months.
However, 47% said that the new technology will deliver only little to no change.
A notable 32% of surveyed executives reported that they had already implemented the use of generative AI in their company within the past year, while a further 58% said they expected it to improve the quality of their goods and services over the next 12 months.
Finally, 69% said that their employees would need to learn new AI skills.
This corresponds with a recent corporate recruiters survey, which found that AI was among the most desirable skills for business school graduates.
Last year, Goldman Sachs predicted that the latest developments in AI could lead to the automation of 300 million full-time jobs across big economies, leading to a lift of the world’s GDP by 7% over the next decade.
Business leaders do still hold some some doubts over the use of AI, however, as found by the survey. They are most concerned with cybersecurity and the spread of disinformation.
Though executive responses to AI vary between industries, it is likely that the technology is going to result in notable changes to the business sphere over the coming year.
