The IMF warned about the advancement of Artificial Intelligence: “It hits the workforce like a tsunami.”

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund spoke about AI and its implementation by businesses. She discussed how it could impact jobs.

Artificial intelligence is hitting the global labor market ‘like a tsunami,’ said the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, on Monday.

Georgieva mentioned that AI is likely to affect 60% of jobs in advanced economies and 40% of jobs worldwide in the next two years, during an event in Zurich.

‘We have very little time to prepare people and businesses,’ she said at the event organized by the Swiss Institute of International Studies, affiliated with the University of Zurich. ‘It could generate a huge increase in productivity if managed well, but also more misinformation and, of course, more inequality in our society.’

Georgieva mentioned that the global economy had become more prone to crises in recent years, citing the 2020 global pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Although more shocks are expected, particularly due to the climate crisis, activity has remained remarkably resilient, she said.

‘We are not in a global recession,’ said Georgieva, who was interrupted by protesters calling for action on climate change and addressing the debt of developing countries.

‘Last year there was fear that most economies would fall into recession, but that did not happen,’ she said. ‘Inflation, which has hit us hard, is decreasing almost everywhere.’