About a quarter of Hong Kong’s workforce, or 800,000 workers, will find themselves unemployed or having to change career in the next five years as artificial intelligence (AI) takes over their jobs, reports South China Morning Post, citing a study by Hong Kong recruitment firm Venturenix. Data entry clerks, administrative staff, and customer service representatives are likely to bear the brunt of the rapid shift to digitalisation as their jobs are eliminated in the coming years, said the firm’s research. “As AI applications penetrate into various industries, even traditional high-paying professions such as lawyers and translators are affected,” said the study by Venturenix. “Illustrators and content creators are also more likely to be replaced.”

Many Hong Kong companies are now asking employees in positions that previously did not require IT experience to learn to use ChatGPT, according to the study. “Dicky Yuen, director and founder of Venturenix said. “Employees who understand AI and can better integrate AI into work processes will greatly improve work efficiency and have higher salary increases and promotion opportunities than employees who do not understand it.” Meanwhile, the study also found that Hong Kong faced a severe shortage of IT talent. About 4,000 IT professionals are seeking employment each month, but there are as many as 7,400 vacancies in the sector.