Welcome to the age of 'AI-nxiety,' in which anxiety about AI taking over our jobs and lives is at the top of everybody's minds

• The threat of AI is increasingly clear and well founded, and it is causing serious anxiety.
• Day One, a creative agency, coined the term "AI-nxiety" in their 2023 Predictionary.

Talks and posts about how the latest AI bot has successfully mastered yet another employable skill is causing a looming sense of doom. ChatGPT was launched three months ago, but it's making jobseekers with decades of experience unsure about what the future holds. From writing a full scientific research article in just two hours, to passing a Google coding interview, AI bots are causing even those with reputable experience and esteemed degrees to feel anxious.

Cue "AI-nxiety", one of the terms coined by Day One's team in their 2023 Predictionary. Day One, a creative agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, was responsible for coming up with "Catch 2022" last year — which encompassed the uncertainty being felt about living in the post-pandemic world.

AI-nxiety aims to describe the unease about the effects of AI on the inventiveness of mankind.

This 'AI-nxiety', however, is evidently also an apt descriptor for the pervasive fear of losing our jobs to a robot, a fear that is very much grounded in reality.

Will AI really take our jobs?

In October 2020, the World Economic Forum predicted that an estimated 85 million jobs may be displaced by 2025, recognizing that automation in the workforce has been increasing at a faster rate than anticipated.

Their forecast has proven to be true so far, as despite being in the early stages of development, AI technology has already significantly threatened a variety of industries.

Just within the last couple of weeks, Buzzfeed announced that it will be using AI technology to generate content, while Netflix Japan has already created an animated film using AI-generated artwork, according to Vice.

In a recent article by Insider, experts shared that ChatGPT and other related AI technologies could potentially threaten some jobs, especially white-collar ones.

The list included jobs from the tech and finance industries, as well as roles within the world of graphic design and media.

For now, it's uncertain what careers are safe from AI.

But all hope is not lost, some experts say.

Although it may be hard to deny the possibility of AI displacing most of the present workforce, some say this machine revolution has opened a gateway for more growth.

According to the same report by the World Economic Forum, this wave of AI technology is projected to create 97 million new jobs, in which innovation and adaptability will be some of the most valuable skills.

Besides, there have also been several cases highlighting the fallibility of AI.

In a recent experiment where the University of Minnesota law school tested ChatGPT on exams, associate professor Jon Choi noted that even though the bot could recite legal rules and cases, it failed to provide deeper analytical reasoning.

Researchers also suggest that the inherent racist and discriminatory bias found in many AI models may create more problems for mankind, particularly marginalized groups.

So what does it all mean for us now?

Simply put, the AI revolution is here to stay, and its ramifications will become increasingly noticeable in our everyday lives.

At this point, the best way to deal with 'AI-nxiety'is to learn how to use AI, and leave the rest of the worrying to the bots.