Russia’s Young Professionals Worry AI Will Make Their Skills Obsolete

Nearly 40 percent of young professionals in Russia fear their jobs are vulnerable to automation, according to a new study by Sber’s Laboratory of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. The findings, reported by Vedomosti, show that this anxiety is most acute among workers under 30, with 39 percent saying their knowledge and skills could be replaced by machines.

Older workers are less worried. Among respondents aged 31 to 45, only 37 percent felt their professions were at risk, and that number dropped to 34 percent for those between 46 and 55. The study suggests the reasons differ by age: younger professionals worry they cannot keep pace with artificial intelligence, while their older counterparts fear they will struggle to learn new software and interfaces.

Companies are drawn to automation primarily for its speed and cost savings, the survey found. But Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman of Sberbank, stressed that human expertise remains essential. “It is the person who sets the task for AI, defines the conditions, monitors the work, and interprets the results,” he told Vedomosti, urging professionals to focus on the skills that machines cannot replicate.