Microsoft Work Trend Index: AI Will Work Alongside Employees

Artificial intelligence could enhance, not replace, jobs, Microsoft says. But AI still needs human input and emotional intelligence.

Will generative artificial intelligence replace jobs or enhance them? That’s the question Microsoft set out to answer in its Work Trend Index report. For this report, Edelman Data x Intelligence, commissioned by Microsoft, surveyed 31,000 full-time employed or self-employed people in 31 countries and analyzed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals across organizations, as well as labor trends from the LinkedIn Economic Graph. Data was gathered between February 1, 2023 and March 14, 2023. Survey results indicated that jobs will change but not necessarily be replaced.

The tech giant also announced its own AI-powered product, Microsoft 365 Copilot, will be available in an invitation-only paid preview program with a gradual rollout starting in May. The new version of Copilot includes some expanded capabilities geared toward enterprise, such as collaboration and idea generation in Whiteboard; the image generator DALL-E; and generative AI assistants for Outlook, OneNote and Viva Learning.

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Artificial intelligence could enhance, not replace, jobs, Microsoft says. But AI still needs human input and emotional intelligence.