Survey: Most Danes don't expect AI to take their jobs

A new survey from Dansk Industri (DI) and Epinion finds that most Danes in the workforce do not expect artificial intelligence to take their jobs. Of the 4,707 people over 18 who answered, 76 percent do not expect AI to replace their job within the next five years, while only about 7 percent expect it to. Among those who already use AI at work, around half say it makes them faster and better at their tasks.

Søren Kryhlmand, DI's deputy chief executive, called the result remarkable given the worry in the public debate. He read it as a sign that Danes trust there will still be a need for their skills. He acknowledged that many employees feel uncertain and said many will get new or different tasks as companies adopt AI, but that Denmark still faces a labour shortage. According to DI, AI can free up time by handling information searches, text work, data analysis and routine administration.

DI also points to a separate analysis based on Statistics Denmark data and answers from 7,150 companies. Since 2021, companies that use AI systematically have had revenue growth 6.5 percent higher than comparable companies that do not. Where AI is used across almost the whole organisation, the gap is 13.3 percent. Employment has also grown in these companies. The article notes that the analysis does not by itself show that AI caused the whole growth difference. DI says small companies in particular appear to benefit, and Kryhlmand says Danish companies are among the leaders in Europe in AI use, with no sign of AI takeover in unemployment figures.

The article stresses that the survey measures Danes' own expectations, not how many jobs AI will actually replace. Many workers will probably need to learn new digital tools, some tasks may change or disappear, and new roles and skill needs may emerge.