‘The ultimate intern’: AI is adopted by a business every FORTY seconds, but what does it mean for the job market?

Two-thirds of British firms now use artificial intelligence for their everyday business needs, far outpacing uptake across Europe. 

New data from Amazon Web Services shows that one business or organisation was implementing AI every 40 seconds in Britain – where adoption has increased by 23 per cent year-on-year. 

The findings may raise concerns about the impact of the new technology on employment figures, though.  

In January, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sounded the alarm over a jobs ‘tsunami’ caused by the rise of AI. 

Kristalina Georgieva told the World Economic Forum in Davos: ‘Wake up – AI is for real and it is transforming our world faster than we are getting ahead of it.’ 

This Is Money spoke to business owners who are using new tools, such as Claude and ChatGPT, and what it means for the job market. 

Which firms are using AI? 

The majority of start-ups – 88 per cent – in Britain are using AI, but overall, use in the public sector was higher than in the private.  

It is perhaps unsurprising that nimble start-ups looking to cut costs and experiment with new tech are firm proponents of the tech. 

However, AWS’ analysis also found that the manufacturing sector is also finding use for the tech.  

It found that the North West was seeing a strong increase in the use of AI amid a backdrop of ‘advanced manufacturing, a growing digital sector, and strong university networks’. 

AI use among firms and organisations is highest in London, with AI adoption among London-headquartered organisations standing at 72 per cent, compared with the national average of 64 per cent.

The region which saw the second-highest level of AI use in the past year was the South East of England, where 67 per cent of firms reported using it.  

Amazon Web Services said the higher use of AI in the South East was ‘driven by proximity to London’s talent pipeline and a strong base of technology and professional services firms’. 

While the use of AI is increasing, AWS said that more than half of AI-adopting organisations ‘are still focused on basic use cases: using publicly available chatbots, scheduling assistants, or off-the-shelf AI solutions for routine tasks. 

‘They are adopting AI, and reaping the benefits, but not yet using it to fundamentally change how their business operates. The gap between basic and advanced use matters because the economic value of AI scales dramatically with depth of integration.’

The ‘basic’ AI being adopted is akin to having a smartphone but only using it for phone calls, it added. 

How business owners are using AI

Smaller firms across a range of industries have told This Is Money that using machine intelligence has upped productivity without job losses, yet. 

Kate Allen, owner of Finest Stays in Devon, said she is already using AI across her holiday lettings business. 

She said: ‘We’re already using ChatGPT to draft and refine guest and owner communications, saving significant time while keeping tone consistent. We’re also applying AI to support our revenue management including analysing data and trends, while all final decisions remain human-led.

‘In the near future, I expect AI agents to handle routine, data-based queries across a unified inbox (guest enquiries, bookings, property managers), allowing our team to focus on high-value, human interactions to deal with complex questions, local insight, and guest experience.’ 

However, she warned that the technology could spur significant disruption in the labour market.  

‘No roles have been affected yet, but I do think change is imminent; likely within six months,’ she said. 

‘For us, AI isn’t all about replacing people, but enabling us to scale efficiently, reduce recruitment pressure, and deliver faster, more consistent service, while doubling down on the human touch that defines great hospitality.’

Tony Redondo, owner of Newquay-based Cosmos Currency Exchange, told Newspage that AI had been a ‘drudgery killer’ rather than a ‘job killer’ at his firm.

He added ‘We’ve adopted AI daily, not to replace our staff, but to act as the ultimate high-speed intern. We use it primarily for deep-dive research and to streamline the ‘plumbing’ of our back-office processes, tasks that used to eat up hours of manual data entry or document sorting are now handled in seconds.’

Steven Mather, a solicitor and director at Steven Mather Solicitors in Leicester, said he had ‘heavily adopted’ AI across his legal practice, but not at the expense of ‘being human’.

He told Newspage: ‘Even though I only act for businesses, my work is still relationship-driven, and people still want advice from a human. So the human side of things leads; the tech is behind the scenes. 

‘AI is revolutionising the way I work, saving hours each week. From using automated email writing, to admin work, and even to things like preparing contracts, the time savings are incredible. But it is vital that safeguards are put in place, for any business not just regulated ones like mine.’ 

Stylianos Taxidis, head of data and analytics at CV-Library, said: ‘We have seen the impact of AI on roles first-hand, with administrative job postings nearly halving since 2023. 

‘Roles most at risk are those built on routine, repeatable tasks, including admin, clerical work, customer service and some entry-level IT positions – making early-career roles most exposed.’

He added: ‘The reality is that the most secure roles are those that utilise AI’s capabilities alongside human expertise.’

Taxidis also told This is Money that recent research by CV-Library found that more than half of jobseekers believe they had been rejected by AI, while one in three recruiters admitted AI tools were causing them to miss out on strong candidates.