Over 80% Of Malaysians Regularly Use AI For Work

Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn recently released a new report called the “AI at work is here. Now comes the hard part.”. It is part of the 2024 Work Trend Index jointly released by the two corporations.

The report offers some interesting insight on the state of AI (artificial intelligence) at the workplace. The research shows how, just one year in, AI is influencing the way people work, lead and hire around the world.

Over 3/4 of Malaysians do not have time and energy to get work done

The report revealed that some 77% of Malaysians do not have the time and energy to get work done. The report noted this is prevalent especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consequently, around 84% of Malaysians have resorted to using AI to help compensate for this issue and to help boost creativity. It also revealed that 56% of employees use AI to conduct their catch-up work, such as staying updated by having AI summarise missed meetings.

“The amount of work has, in fact, increased post-Covid. Every email that [is sent] out, they get four return emails that they have to manage, if not more. So, people are spending a lot more time doing the work and less time being creative. There’s a lot more time spent on what we call ‘doing the work for the work to be done’,” said K Raman, managing director of Microsoft Malaysia.

92% believe AI made their workload more manageable

This rapid growth of AI has led to the rise of “AI power users” who use AI every day. According to Raman, AI power users save about 10 hours of work a month.

The report also mentions that around 92% of AI power users believe that AI taking over mundane tasks have made their workload more manageable and increased their job satisfaction. This is due to them being able to dedicate more time and effort to more creative works in the time that has been saved.

Risks of ‘Bring your own AI’ concept

The wide adoption of AI has raised concerns, however, “on the bring your own AI ” (BYOAI) concept. BYOAI, which is the use of external AI for company-related tasks, has the potential to increase the risk of data breaches. The risk is greater in businesses without a proper AI deployment strategy. This issue becomes even more prominent as 52% of people who use AI at work are reluctant to admit their use of AI.

AI systems have also appeared to have shaken up the employment ecosystem. 62% of business leaders said they would not hire a candidate without AI skills. Meanwhile 65% would rather hire someone who is acquainted with AI, over a person with no AI skills, regardless of their previous experiences.