The impact of AI on the Vietnamese labor market

The popularity of generative AI is predicted by many experts to continue to accelerate in 2024. According to Ms. Bee Kheng, President of ASEAN region of technology company Cisco, AI will move from being a “nice to have” technology to an important, must-have position.

The representative of Cisco ASEAN region analyzed that the AI ​​industry is forecasted to be one of the main drivers of the global economy in the next decade. However, not all organizations are fully prepared to take advantage of this opportunity. Cisco's research shows that only 27% of organizations in Vietnam are fully prepared to deploy and utilize AI, of which 84% admit to concerns about the impact of AI on business operations if they remain passive in the next 12 months.

In a recent analysis of the impact of AI on the Vietnamese labor market, Dr. Jung Woo Han, Senior Head of Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business, RMIT University, said that AI tools help improve human productivity, and in general, are still not enough to completely replace the workforce.

“Although rapidly evolving AI fields could pose a significant threat in the near future, experts believe its impact may remain limited to a certain scale, with service sector workers being more affected than those in manufacturing,” said Dr. Jung Woo Han.

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Dr. Jung Woo Han, Senior Lecturer of Human Resources Management and Entrepreneurship, School of Business, RMIT University.

Notably, according to RMIT experts, content creation and repetitive office jobs are likely to be replaced by generative AI, including market analysis, technical documentation writing and website development, which were once considered stable jobs for university graduates.

Analyzing the Vietnamese labor market in more detail, Dr. Jung Woo Han said that as an emerging economy that still relies significantly on the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, Vietnam will be less affected by AI. Therefore, the short-term impact of AI on the Vietnamese labor market will be relatively low compared to developed countries.

However, the RMIT expert pointed out: That does not mean that the Vietnamese job market is safe from disruptive technology and certain service sectors, such as tourism , will be more affected as they are expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. When advanced AI combines with the latest robotics technology, the job market in these sectors may be 'shaken up'.

To prove his point, Dr. Jung Woo Han cited information from OpenAI - the developer of ChatGPT, stating that jobs requiring college degrees will be at greater risk than jobs requiring only a high school degree. Because people with education levels working in service sectors have higher content creation requirements. Not only that, the ability to create content that combines direct interaction elements also threatens frontline employees in the service sector, such as how an AI called Sapia can interview candidates using chatbots during the recruitment process.

'It's important to develop emerging AI skills'

Giving advice to Vietnamese workers, Dr. Jung Woo Han recommends that instead of worrying too much about how to keep their jobs, it is important to develop emerging AI skills. “Although all skills and knowledge can be replaced by AI over time, there is one area that can never be replaced by any technology. That is a positive attitude to build a culture of productivity, nurture innovation and creativity, thereby unlocking unlimited potential for the organization,” Dr. Jung Woo Han said.

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RMIT experts recommend that learning AI should be considered like learning a new language (Photo source: Freepik)

Sharing the findings from the 'RMIT-Deloitte HR 2023' panel discussion, Dr. Jung Woo Han said: Vietnamese businesses are still not clearly aware of how AI can create specific value for their daily work. "At the panel discussion, Associate Professor Pham Cong Hiep, Acting Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at RMIT Vietnam's School of Business, raised an important issue: AI is designed to communicate with humans through a conversational interface," Dr. Jung Woo Han added.

Learning about AI should be like learning a new language, according to an RMIT expert. The more people are trained to communicate effectively with AI, the more valuable results it can create and deliver. At the same time, significant concerns are being raised about the reliability and ethics of AI dominating the ability to create knowledge in society. Because generative AI 'tries to answer our questions even when it doesn't fully understand'.

“The reliability and validity of AI-generated answers are often questioned, raising issues of copyright and plagiarism. If more and more content is generated based on a dominant AI in the market, their AI algorithms will create certain biases. In addition, there are many reports and studies showing that AI can exacerbate racism and other forms of discrimination in human society. Therefore, a legal framework is needed to prevent these negative impacts,” Dr. Jung Woo Han suggested.