With AI tools increasingly being used in various workplaces, the fear of seeing one's job - and skills - become totally obsolete is growing. This has sparked the coining of a new acronym, FOBO. In the United States, more than one in five people now fear that their work will be pointless due to new technology.

FOBO stands for “Fear of being obsolete”. While the concept is not at all new, it has taken on unprecedented proportions since the emergence of ChatGPT and the like.

The emergence of artificial intelligence has increased this sentiment tenfold, according to several studies, including a recent one by Gallup, conducted in August 2023 among 1,014 American adults in 50 states. It shows that 22% of American workers today fear that technology will one day make their jobs obsolete, a figure that has risen by 7% since 2021.

Employees with a college degree are now almost as concerned about this threat as all other workers. Some 20% are afraid that their work will soon be obsolete (up 12% in one year). This fear is also greatest among young people aged 18 to 34 (28%), who are even more aware of the possibilities offered by AI. On an optimistic note, only a quarter of those surveyed consider this to be an imminent threat.

In the past, the arrival of robots on the job market has been largely preoccupying blue-collar workers, who are sometimes replaced by machines on assembly lines. Now, however, artificial intelligence is threatening other types of jobs, both office-based and more highly-skilled.

Among the jobs most at risk from AI developments are all those involving data entry, proofreading or translating text, account management, market research, moderating online content or even organising travel.

In a report published last March, US-based bank Goldman Sachs estimated that artificial intelligence systems could replace 300 million full-time jobs worldwide.

“Roughly two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work” in Europe and the US, the report explained.

 - AFP Relaxnews