chatgpt logo wordpress cover
arrow_back Digital & Marketing Strategy Reports

ChatGPT Statistics: More productivity, less jobs in marketing


2022 was arguably a tough year for the tech industry with the rise of artificial intelligence, the development of machine learning, and the appearance of roles like AI prompt engineers and ChatGPT consultants. Along with the collapse of crypto and 152,000 people losing their jobs, innovation almost seemed to the world to be at a standstill. We decided to compile some ChatGPT statistics to see how worrisome, or comforting, the data was.

But in early December of last year, OpenAI threw out what seemed to be a lifeline for some, a threat to others, in the form of ChatGPT.

Those of us who have tested it may have wondered “is this the end of my career?” Some of us may have thought right, but others might not be aware that upper management have ideas with something like ChatGPT that may no longer involve humans…

In this Marketing Report:

As OpenAI begins to pilot ChatGPT Professional, at Sortlist, we surveyed 500 employees and employers users in 6 different countries to find out how they feel about ChatGPT’s appearance in the job market, how much they would be willing to pay for it, and whether they see it as a threat to the job market, or as an opportunity.

Tech

Industry predicted to see most jobs cuts due to the rise of ChatGPT

43%

Number of employers who want to hire ChatGPT as a marketing copywriter

Millennials

Millennials are 43% more worried about near future job cuts than other generations

ChatGPT impact on jobs: 26% of employers plan job cuts due to ChatGPT

According to our study, 23% of employees working in software engineering and tech industry are worried about their job opportunities because of language models like ChatGPT. Maybe they should be, as 26% of employers in the same industry are thinking about reducing headcount as a direct result.

For employees in education, there is no need to be too worried. Though 31% of these employees fear job cuts, a thorough understanding of the examples we’ve all seen from the education sector; they are almost 2x more likely than their employers to think ChatGPT will reduce headcount in the future (even if the AI tool can write essays and easily teach classes!).

employers on how chatGPT will affect headcount

Finance employees: Expectation of ChatGPT job losses at 70% less than they expect

Finance is the second-biggest industry where employees and employers have differing views on how the ChatGPT technology will reduce headcount. Employees in the finance industry do not see ChatGPT as a threat, although they should.

headcount reductions with ChatGPT in finance

Our study shows that only 14% of employees in the finance sector fear that ChatGPT will be used to reduce headcounts and costs in their company. However, 22% of employers in the finance and wealth industries consider this an option if they were to introduce ChatGPT and other related technologies into their business.

AI tools in the job market: 51% of those planning to cut will do so in marketing

On a departmental level, employees in product management and customer service departments are 2x more likely to worry about their jobs than marketers… but marketers’ skill set is the one most at risk in the job market.

Although employers may look into ChatGPT consulting services before making their final decisions, according to our data, 51% of employers who are considering reducing headcount believe that generative AI would be implemented into their marketing and PR departments. Is an unforeseen wave of marketing layoffs is coming? Only a quarter of employees in those departments envision reduced headcounts in their organization.

job loss vs planned cuts with ChatGPT

Although employees and employers have different opinions on the job opportunities that may be impacted by generative AI, language models like these have had widespread adoption in various aspects, and both groups polled agree that the chatbot has potential in marketing copy due to its capabilities of natural language processing. Still, for the time being, marketing employees may not have grasped just how many employers are ready to use artificial intelligence. 

In a case of human resources nightmare, 43% of employers want to hire ChatGPT as a marketing copywriter to create AI-generated content like a blog post, social media captions, etc., compared to 36% of employees who see the chatbot as having a role in this area.

Millennials in both tech and finance are 2.4x more likely to worry about the impact of ChatGPT on workplace

Across all sectors, millennials are 43% more worried about job cuts in their industry, however, the number significantly increases when it comes to those working in software and tech.  

employee likelihood to predict job loss chatGPT

Within the industry however, most millennials that fear these job cuts imagine AI tools like ChatGPT being used mostly for writing purposes rather than coding and data entry, such as answering customer questions (50%), and outreaching potential clients (38%)

millennial job loss fears with ChatGPT

Similarly, in finance, millennial employees are 2.4x more likely to be worried about job cuts compared to other generations in the same field. 67% of them believe that tools like ChatGPT could pose a risk for those writing marketing copy, but also, the same amount of millennials believe it could have a negative impact on employees who work analyzing and collecting data.  

millennial fears of job loss in finance

Employers predict an average of 74% productivity increase with generative AI, employees 66%

Most employees (32%) see an increased productivity range of 25-50% and so do employers (33%) but the latter consider AI tools like ChatGPT as productivity-enhancing tools in a higher proportion than their employees.

predicted productivity gains with ChatGPT

Employees who predict the biggest productivity boost would use ChatGPT for generative AI, employers 66%

Out of employees who believe AI-driven tools could at least double their productivity, 45% would use it for coding complex tasks, and 38% of them think it would be most beneficial for IT and engineering departments.

However, only 31% of employers believe that coding would see such a significant benefit from the chatbot. 

predicted productivity with ChatGPT

On the other hand, 41% of employers expect ChatGPT to double their productivity in marketing and PR departments and would use it to create marketing copy as well.

50% of employees who feel their work productivity could increase 2x or even 3x are from Gen Z

58% of 18-24-year-olds believe that ChatGPT would at least double their productivity in answering customer questions, as well as lead to job creation. 50% believe it would be most useful for writing code and generating non-marketing copy (not so much their soft skills).

generational productivity ChatGPT

AI-generated content is more human than ever, but 39% fear a loss of human touch with ChatGPT

While survey respondents indicated enthusiasm for the potential productivity gains with ChatGPT, nearly 39% expressed concern about a loss of human touch and human expertise in the job market.

And tellingly, 46% of those who share this fear imagine ChatGPT being mostly used in customer experience services.

downside of using chatGPT

37% of employers who would use ChatGPT for customer service work in the software and tech industry. Of that number, 72% are afraid of a loss of human touch.

fears of software and tech employers with ChatGPT

For all the talk of ChatGPT replacing human customer service, only 14% of employers in software and tech, like software engineers (among AI-driven tools’ heaviest adopters), would be looking to reduce headcount in this area.

software and tech employers reducing head count with ChatGPT

“Written by AI”: Sales & Customer success are 67% more likely to think watermarking makes ChatGPT useless

82% of employers think a watermark wouldn’t make a difference to their use of AI technologies.

ChatGPT watermak

AI models aren’t entirely untrustworthy in the job market. 52% expect to use ChatGPT to answer customer questions, and 43% to outreach potential customers.  They are also 1.6x more likely to be concerned by a loss of human touch.

ChatGPT concerns of loss of human touch

What about watermarking? When it comes to watermarked text making AI-generated content look untrustworthy, employers and employees share concerns regarding contacting customers. 

Of those most concerned, 39% are concerned they would seem untrustworthy in outreaching clients, and a further 44% when answering customer questions.

affects of ChatGPT watermark on content

Companies across the world fear that direct contact with customers would label them as unreliable if they knew they were talking with a bot.  Admitting to the clients that their content is produced by AI could turn away those looking for a more personal experience.  

68% of these companies also feel that AI-driven chatbots should not go unsupervised, meaning that they have doubts about the credibility of its work in a crucial, client-facing role. 

employers against ChatGPT watermark

Tech industry willing to go all in for ChatGPT Professional: those willing to pay >€250 a month are 2x more likely to fully trust its output

The paid service ChatGPT Professional begs the question: which industries in the job market are willing to put their money in the new technology

32% of those willing to pay over €250 per month come from the software and tech (computing and information sciences) industry, and of those, 52% are willing to pay over €500, making it overwhelmingly the sector willing to pay the most for ChatGPT Professional for AI automation.

To put that into context, in second place sits the finance industry with just 19% ready to pay over €250 per month.

top 5 industries willing to pay over 250 euros per month for ChatGPT

 

However, employers in the software and tech industry are 1.8x less likely to trust ChatGPT to work unsupervised than other industries… so does this mean there is a disparity in how software and tech businesses view the evolution of ChatGPT in the job market?

For employers who are willing to pay less than €50 a month, 54% said they would not trust ChatGPT to work unsupervised and that it should be checked or merely used as inspiration.

probability that employers would allow chatgpt to work unsupervised
do you trust chatgpt to work unsupervised

Although ChatGPT has left an impression of autonomy for both employees and employers, ChatGPT has been known to make simple mistakes which begs us to wonder if it should be left unsupervised.  


chatgpt mistake

Understandably, employers who think ChatGPT can work unsupervised are 18% more likely to reduce headcount within their company.

AI salaries: A promising picture of an emerging career

Learners of AI mechanisms, prompts, and machine learning may have positive things to look for when it comes to expected salaries. We reviewed over 5,000 Indeed job postings and found that the average salary for AI-engineering related positions was approximately 186,616 dollars per year.

average AI salaries

As a matter of fact, the majority of those job postings had an average range of 161,812 and 175,401 dollars per year.

The most frequent job titles in AI are as follows:

most frequent AI job titles

However, the average salaries in AI differ greatly from the top salaries of those job listings:


And perhaps most interestingly, when looking at job title keywords, we find that the average salaries of the most requested positions are all above 150,000 dollars per year:


This paints a promising picture for the incipient field, in which companies are willing to shell out thousands of dollars for experts.

Conclusion

ChatGPT has created differing perceptions amongst employees and employers on its potential impact on the workforce. Whether it be on job cuts or in terms of productivity, AI-driven tools could leave an impact on both the finance and software and tech sectors with AI integrated into, most likely, their marketing departments.  

All in all, employers are willing to pay for the AI-generated text. But wait to see whether chatbot content with a watermark that might as well say “I was not written by a human” will change our usage of the chatbot, and how it will make significant disruption into other industries like legal service, healthcare, and training employees.

Methodology

The study was conducted between December 27th, 2022, and January 9th, 2023, among 500 users in 6 countries: the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and France. In the study, we surveyed general ChatGPT users to gather their perspectives on the AI system and its potential impact on their jobs or businesses. We also looked at over 5,000 Indeed job listings for AI-engineering related positions to analyse trends in salaries and job titles. The responses are anonymous.

Featured in

About the Sortlist Data Hub

The Sortlist Data Hub is the place to be for journalists and industry leaders who seek data-driven reports from the marketing world, gathered from our surveys, partner collaborations, and internal data of more than 50,000 industries.

It is designed to be a space where the numbers on marketing are turned into easy-to-read reports and studies.

close

Access our exclusive content!

email