Are machines on the verge of taking our jobs?
By Lee Naik, CEO of TransUnion
This isn’t a new discussion. Remember the Luddites, who destroyed factory machines back in the early 1800s? Yet, here we are again, in 2023, talking about how AI applications like ChatGPT are about to render us all redundant.
They aren’t. But the debate is certainly highlighting the need for businesses and workers around the world to stay relevant and prepare for a new future.
In 2013, the Oxford Martin School’s paper, The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?, suggested that as many as 47% of US jobs were at risk from automation over the course of the next two decades.
Since 2000, robots and automation systems have replaced around 1,7-million manufacturing jobs. The World Economic Forum’s ‘The Future of Jobs Report 2020’ predicts that AI is expected to replace 85 million jobs worldwide by 2025.
If you have a job that can be done by a computer or a robot, at some point that role could be automated.
But look at the opportunities. The WEF predicts that AI will create 97-million new jobs by 2025. Right now, we shouldn’t be trying to protect jobs that computers and robots can do better. We should be finding ways to train our workforce for future work, and how to succeed in this brave new world.
How do we do that? I asked ChatGPT to share three ways humans can stay relevant in the age of AIL
* Develop expertise in areas where AI is less advanced. While AI excels in areas such as data analysis and decision-making, it may not be as good at tasks that require creativity, empathy, and critical thinking. By developing expertise in areas such as problem-solving, decision-making, and communication, humans can stay relevant by working alongside AI systems.
* Continual learning and upskilling. As AI continues to advance, it is important for individuals to stay current with the latest technologies and trends. This can be achieved through ongoing learning and upskilling, such as taking online courses or participating in professional development programs.
* Leveraging the strengths of AI and humans. AI is best at handling repetitive and mundane tasks, while humans excel at tasks that require creativity, empathy, and critical thinking. By working together, AI and humans can create a powerful synergy that enables organisations to achieve more than they could individually.
What does this tell us?
Relevance starts with education
We must start training people of all ages in the skills they need to be relevant here and now. In South Africa, around 736 000 young people passed matric in 2022. Have they been taught the skills they need to get a job that won’t be automated in the next 20 years?
Even if they become part of the 7% who get a degree, do they have the skills to hit the ground running in the modern workplace?
The answer to both questions is almost certainly a resounding ‘no’. Fact is, the world of education has moved on. People are opting to do courses in Python or abuse counselling rather than a four-year degree. We’re seeing exponential growth in MOOCs (massive open online classes), which are giving hundreds of millions of high school graduates across the world access to higher education in bite-sized chunks.
Why is this important? For one, it gives young people access to the practical skills they need to get future-facing jobs. Just as importantly, though, they’re helping the current cohort of employees upgrade their skills to meet the demands of a job environment that’s being disrupted every day.
Relevance is in our own hands
In the current economic climate, there are limited jobs available. Employers are being challenged to help their people evolve to learn the new skills they need. But in today’s workplace, relevance is everything.
To remain relevant, we must change our thinking. Relevance is a choice – and it’s our choice alone. We can’t sit around waiting for our employers to make us relevant, or for job options to be placed at our door.
Relevance is a massive opportunity
But while relevance starts with the employee, the employer also has a clear role in driving job satisfaction and reducing attrition. As employers, how do we make things like unstructured education, job shadowing and learning on the job possible to allow our people to find their relevance?
At a time when businesses are grappling with issues like flexible working, the great resignation, and the need to demonstrate their employer value proposition, helping our people stay relevant is key to attracting and retaining the best talent.
We can take the mundane, repetitive, and soul-destroying jobs away from people and give them more rewarding, high-impact tasks. This creates more value for the company, and makes for happier people.
More than that, though, we have an opportunity to pull millions of young people into the global workforce. In 2018, then Gigaom CEO and futurist Byron Reese described AI as ‘the greatest job engine the world has ever seen’, with many fields that will experience job growth through AI. ‘But just as with the internet, the real gains in jobs will come from places where our imaginations cannot yet take us,’ he said.
We’re on the cusp of a new age. We can’t waste any time getting the current workforce and the next generation ready for it.