Expect the conversation about how AI technology will affect the future of work — and by that, I mean jobs — to continue to be a huge topic of debate, optimism and pessimism in the coming months (and next few years, TBH.)
Companies are already planning for potential productivity and profit boosts from the adoption of generative AI and automated tech, as evidenced by job cuts at Google, Spotify, Amazon and others that have specifically noted their need to shift resources to AI-forward roles and projects.
The International Monetary Fund said this month that nearly 40 percent of jobs around the world are exposed to change due to AI. In its September “Jobs of Tomorrow” report, the World Economic Forum predicts 23% of global jobs will change in the next five years due to factors including AI. That transformation will reshape existing jobs and create new roles in categories including AI developers, interface and interaction designers, AI content creators, data curators, and AI ethics and governance specialists, the WEF said. (Remember, Goldman Sachs noted last year that 60% of workers are employed in occupations right now that didn’t exist in 1940.)
Which of today’s occupations will be most affected and how do employers find the right people for those new roles, since experts agree it will take time to build an AI education workforce? And who’s going to do that reskilling? Is it the responsibility of the government, the workers themselves, or the companies rewriting job descriptions as they retune their businesses?
The answer is a mix of all of the above. Workers should learn new skills, the government should set policies that promote an AI-skilled workforce and companies should invest in training employees to give them new skills, said New York University professor Robert Seamans, who is also director of the NYU Stern Center for the Future of Management. But he particularly hopes that companies will step up.
“From a policy point of view, there’s a lot of focus…
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