AI Alert: Jobs of a million Londoners at risk from artificial intelligence, Sadiq Khan warns

The analysis, which highlighted how the city’s labour force is at greater risk from artificial intelligence than any other region in Britain, stressed:

* More than 300,000 Londoners, mainly in routine administrative roles, are “highly exposed” and at most immediate risk of automation, with AI now capable of performing a large share of their daily work.

* 748,000 more Londoners are believed to be ‘significantly exposed’, with some parts of their roles highly automatable by AI.

* These two groups account for more than a million Londoners and more than a fifth of the capital’s workforce.

* Nearly half of London’s workers (46% or around 2.4 million) are in roles where GenAI could automate a “meaningful share” of their tasks, significantly higher than the UK average of 38%.

* Early signs are already appearing of slowing recruitment for some of the most exposed admin and professional roles, although the evidence is “still inconclusive”.

Sir Sadiq issued the worrying outlook as he also made the positive case for AI to benefit the capital through better transport systems and public services.

“A high degree of exposure to AI does not necessarily mean job losses,” he was due to say at the Bloomberg CityLab Summit in Madrid, Spain.

“Our research indicates there’s every chance that AI will augment and assist the Londoners working in these roles, rather than eliminating their jobs completely.

“But given the numbers of Londoners that are exposed, and the finding that 7% of large UK businesses have already used AI to cut staff, we cannot afford to be complacent.”

Stressing that a “hands-off approach” to artificial intelligence could allow it to inflict significant harm on London workers, Sir Sadiq announced that lastminute.com co-founder Baroness Martha Lane-Fox will chair a new London AI and Jobs Taskforce.

It will monitor how AI is changing London’s workforce, identify risks and opportunities and propose ways to boost skills and help people into jobs.

The Mayor also highlighted reports that suggested AI will in the long term create more jobs than in destroys.

He is arguing for London to “be clear-eyed” about the potential perils of AI, while backing its “amazing possibilities’.

Artificial intelligence has developed into GenAI which can be prompted to create text, speech, images, music, video and code at extraordinary speed, far quicker than humans.

“ICT, finance, professional services, and public administration sectors face the highest overall exposure to GenAI, all of which are industries that are fundamental to London’s economy,” outlined the report.

“Sectors that rely on physical presence, skilled trades, or direct interpersonal care are less directly exposed, though no sector is likely to remain entirely unaffected.

“Some sectors with relatively low direct exposure to GenAI, such as transport, may see faster change in the future when other forms of AI such as computer vision advance, increasing the potential of robotics and other automation technologies.”

The City Hall study, entitled “London’s workforce exposure to generative artificial intelligence”, emphasised that workers with degrees and other higher levels of education are among the most exposed to the fast-evolving technology given their concentration in professional, knowledge-intensive occupations.

Women are overrepresented, it added, in highly exposed admin and clerical roles.

Many younger workers, including those embarking on a professional careers, are also in high-exposure digital and knowledge-intensive roles.

GenAI could also deepen the glaring wealth divide in the capital, the report added, with lower-paid admin workers heavily impacted, while higher paid professionals benefiting from productivity gains.

Labour force experts say jobs requiring high-stakes judgement, accountability and client interaction are assessed to be less at risk from AI, and more likely to be modernised rather than cut.

Sir Sadiq stressed that it was not possible to avoid the AI revolution but it needed to be made to work for Londoners.

He added: “In London, we’re already using AI to predict congestion, improve cycling navigation, better co-ordinate homelessness services, and identify damp and mould in social housing.

“But just because we’re already seeing the progress AI can deliver, it doesn’t mean we’re blind to its adverse effects, including the potential short-term economic disruption.”