AI has set its sights on 300 million jobs around the globe, about 9.1% of all the world’s jobs, and here in the U.S., 24% of the workforce is concerned about being replaced by AI.
Yes, AI will take your job; however, it will gift two or three new jobs in its place. The thing is, we can’t be certain what those new jobs will be.
Remember when the big news was that high school students would grow up to pursue careers that didn’t exist yet? Technology promised to do that, and it kept its word. The kids rode the wave and rolled comfortably into the evolving technology economies of the past three decades. Some older workers retooled; some fell through the cracks. Innovation does that. And those high school kids? Some of them grew up to create technologies that are introducing new waves of employment unknowns.
Humans have likely been toolmakers for a solid 2.6 million years. Many of our innovations reduce the need for labor (jobs). When we mastered farming, a few people could make sure that the rest of us had enough to eat. Urban civilization bloomed. Many quit or were pushed out of their hunter-gatherer jobs. New roles emerged, including the prestigious scribe, whose descendants now fear being replaced by generative AI.
In fact, no occupation is immune. This time, it’s not just about robots taking over manufacturing. The new threat of replacement extends to college-educated white-collar positions. These roles are now vulnerable to replacement by AI.
Bank tellers, postal clerks, cashiers, and data entry workers have long had reason to worry about job obsolescence. As AI use expands, workers in marketing and advertising, accountants and tax preparers, mathematicians, various analysts, writers, web designers, lawyers, and many others may be displaced. And those robots that will keep taking jobs from humans are now supercharged with AI.
How immanent is this takeover? 44% of skill will likely be disrupted over the next five years.
The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report offers some insight into the pace at which AI is moving. The report gathered input from 803 companies with a collective population totaling 11.3 million employees. It examined 27 industry clusters and 45 economies. What was generally found is that in the post-COVID-19 world, there are still significant barriers to job creation, and high unemployment persists in low-income economies. Innovation, environmental factors, and economic trends are shaking up employment around the globe. This May 2023 report confirms that technology, in particular AI, is reshaping job markets.
Many economies are experiencing cost-of-living crises. Women and minimally educated individuals face high unemployment. But AI is finding work. Wages are declining in many places while, elsewhere, investments in emerging technologies are on the rise. More than 85% of businesses examined for the report see adoption of big data, cloud computing, and AI as central to their development and success. And with the focus on AI, the nature of work itself is changing.
Technology has long been the giver and taker of jobs. When John Deere developed the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator in 1863, it took a job away from many (relieved) horses, oxen, and humans. It delivered new jobs in manufacturing, maintenance, repair, advertising, and many other areas. Whenever we innovate to reduce steps, lighten loads, save time, or reduce the need for manual labor, jobs are lost. But new jobs lie just beyond the innovation horizon. In the meantime, lost jobs are lost business.
If the changes are too disruptive, they can reshape purchasing power. Even in a high-income nation, the loss of jobs to AI can send negative ripple effects across the economy.
Leaders can make choices that empower their people and position their businesses to take advantage of emerging trends.
Businesses can devise scenarios and projects that let their people pilot and extend their AI skills. Exposing every level of your organization to AI can be achieved at low costs. Individual and collaborative assignments can get workers accustomed to partnering with tools like ChatGPT. Introductory use can be tied to existing tasks. But treat it like real training.
1. Capture feedback and analyze results.
2. Identify team and individual strengths and weaknesses.
3. Create and implement plans for improvement.
Upskilling your workers will benefit your bottom line. It will also enhance your reputation as some of these employees leave and go to work at other companies. Wherever they find themselves, their familiarity and skills can help reduce disruption as AI becomes more deeply integrated into work. Little improvements help keep the workforce employable and partly inoculate the economy against future talent shortage.
The fact that many people will be performing jobs that do not yet exist is way less than half of the story. The really big news is the talent shortage. In the U.S., there are not enough appropriately skilled workers or available labor to fill many technological and other positions. Fearing more than preparing may result in AI widening that talent gap.
For organizations and individuals, surviving major transitions usually means reinvention and building new skills. Brace yourself and your business. The unpredictable impact of AI will require old fashioned change management. Even if your business is not involved in areas that are directly affected, changes to paradigms and ecosystems will set off ripple effects. There is no place to hide from AI.
Areas like agriculture and education will continue to welcome humans. Analytical and creative thinking are still highly desirable and enhance employability. Someone has to create the content that the chatbots will draw from, as they generate their responses to our prompts. And remember those jobs that could not work from home during the pandemic—security, healthcare, law enforcement, firefighting, warehouse management, and logistics? They’re safe, for now. AI can enhance them, streamline them, but it cannot eliminate them.
The Future of Jobs Report indicates that businesses plan to meet their goals by training new hires and current staff and by using AI and other forms of automation. People’s fear that AI will replace them still has some merit. But what is coming looks more like a deepening partnership between humans and digital technology. AI extends individuals’ capabilities and can filter out distractions. Targeted upskilling can close the training gaps, ensure that workers transition to the emerging economy, help businesses thrive, and reduce the talent shortage that can weaken the workforce and slow down economic growth.
1. Innovation and technological advancement have often introduced new jobs and eliminated a few, so remain flexible, prepare your people, train them, and let them practice.
2. Find ways to get your workforce accustomed to using AI by applying generative AI tools to existing functions, projects, and tasks.
3. Don’t even think about opting out or dismissing AI as a passing fad or trend of the moment; AI, chatbots, and most of the high-investment emerging technologies are here for the foreseeable future, so make a plan, and engage as soon as possible.
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