Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been taking over routine tasks for years. The COVID-19 pandemic, has rapidly increased that trend, driven by the triple necessities of increased productivity, lower costs and humans safely. Suddenly, human contact is both undesirable and more longed for than ever. Delivery companies, plumbers and even some medical providers now boast about their “zero contact” service, but we relish any chance we get to have an in-person meal or a face to face meeting. As we face the future of an AI. Economy, 2020 taught us the importance of human connection.
AI programs are capable of mimicking and even surpassing human brains in many tasks. But if A.I. allows us to truly understand ourselves, it will be because it liberates us from the mechanical drudgery of routine tasks and allows us to focus on our humanity and the compassionate connections between us.
We already know that many of the jobs that are being replaced will not return, because A.I. can do them much better than people at essentially zero cost. This will in our opinion generate tremendous economic value but will also result in unprecedented job displacement.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2020 comes at a crucial juncture for the World of work. The report, now in its 3rd edition, maps the jobs and skills of the future, tracking the pace of change based on surveys of business leaders and human resource strategists from around the world. Here are the five things we believe you need to know from our findings:
1. The workforce is automating faster than expected, displacing 85 million jobs in the next five years: Automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession is creating a “double disruption” scenario for workers. Companies’ adoption of technology will transform task, jobs, and skills by 2025. Some 43% of businesses surveyed indicate that they are set to reduce their workforce because of technology integration, 41% plan to expand their use of contractors for task – specialized work, and 34% plan to expand their workforce as a result of technology integration. Five years from now, employers will divide work between humans and machines roughly equally.
2. The robot revolution will create 97 million new jobs: As the economy and job markets evolve, new roles will emerge across the care economy in technology fields (such as A.I.) and in content creation careers (such as social media management and content writing). The emerging professions reflect the greater demand for green economy jobs; roles at the forefront of the data and A.I. economy; and new roles in engineering, cloud computing, and product development. The up – and – coming jobs highlight the continuing importance of human interaction in the new economy through roles in the care economy; in marketing, sales, and content production; and in roles that depend on the ability to work with different types of people from different backgrounds.
3. In 2025, analytical thinking, creativity, and flexibility will be among the most sought – after skills: Employers see critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving as growing in importance in the coming years, although these have consistently been cited in previous editions of the survey. Newly emerging this year are skills in self-management, such as active learning, resilience stress tolerance, and flexibility. The data available through metrics partnerships with LinkedIn and Coursera allowed us to track with unprecedented granularity the types of specialized skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.
4. The most competitive businesses will focus on upgrading their workers’ skills: For workers set to remain in their roles over the next five years, nearly half will need retraining for their core skills. The survey also found that the public sector needs to provide stronger support for reskilling and upskilling of at risk or displaced workers. Currently, only 21% of businesses report being able to make use of public funds to support their employees through retraining initiatives the public sector must provide incentives for investment in the markets and jobs of tomorrow, after stronger safety Nets for displaced workers during job transitions, and tackle long-delayed improvements of education and training systems.
5. Remote work is here to stay: Some 84% of employers are set to rapidly digitize work process, including a significant expansion of remote working. Employers say there is the potential to more 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. However, 78% of business leaders expect some negative impact on worker productivity, and many businesses are taking steps to help their employees adapt.
We at Calvin • Farel estimate that by 2023 A.I. and automation will be able to do 40 to 50% of our jobs.
To prepare now for the millions of displaced jobs and tackle retraining for the new skills required when A.I. is both a co-worker and a tool we propose the 3 R’s relearn, recalibrate and renaissance – as part of a gargantuan reimagination of how we live and work to deal with the central economic issue of our time: the A.I. revolution.
First, and perhaps easiest, is forewarning people in endangered, jobs and establishing programs for them to relearn their fields in the context of A.I. The good news is that there are plenty of “human” skills that A.I. cannot master: creativity, social interaction, physically complex or dexterous work and, of course, using the A.I. tools that require human operators.
Vocational schools need to redesign their curriculums to increase courses for sustainable jobs. Governments could take the lead and provide incentives and subsidies for these courses, rather than blindly pursuing broad – brush economic measures like universal basic income. Corporations could also provide programs by supporting employees to be able to cope with future work requirements.
Pandemic or no pandemic, the importance and number of human-centric service jobs, such as nursing, will grow as wealth and life spans increase. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by 2030, we will fall short of the number of health care workers required to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of “good health and well-being for all” by approximately 18 million. There is an acute need to reassess such vital, yet undervalued, human-centric service roles both in terms of how they are perceived and how much they are paid. These jobs will form a bedrock for the new A.I. economy.
As we prepare people for the eventual transition to an A.I. driven economy we will also need to recalibrate many of today’s jobs. Like software did a few decades ago,
A.I. can augment humans’ creative thinking with a computer’s relentless ability to
churn through mass of data, hypothesize alternatives or optimize outcomes. There will not be a single generic, A.I. tool, but specific tools customized for each profession and application. We may have an A.I. based molecule generation program for drug researchers, an A.I. advertising planner for marketers or an A.I. fact checker for journalists.
Merging A.I. optimization and the human touch will reinvent many companies including Calvin • Farel, many of our jobs and create even more. A.I. will take care of routine tasks in tandem with humans, who will carry out the tasks that require, well, humanity. For example, future doctors will still be a patient’s primary point of contact, but they will rely on A.I. diagnostic tools to determine the best treatment. This will redirect the doctor’s role into that of a compassionate caregiver, giving them more time with their patients.
Just as the mobile Internet led to roles like the Uber driver, the coming A.I. revolution will create jobs we cannot even conceive of yet. Examples today include A.I. engineers, data scientists, data labelers Ann robot mechanics. We all should watch for the emergence of such roles, improve our operations by making people aware of them and provide training for them.
Finally, just as the wealthy Italian cities and merchants funded the country’s Renaissance, we must hope that A.I. will inspire a renaissance of its own. With machines taking over many duties and tasks in the new economy, A.I. will inject flexibility into traditional working patterns, allowing us to rethink what work-life balance should look like and transforming both the weekday routine and retirement thresholds. With more freedom and time in such a new social contract, people will be liberated to follow their passions, creativity and talents, and to let that personal exploration inform their careers as never before.
Educators, freed from the drudgery of grading and paperwork, can finally unleash their energy to design lessons that encourage curiosity, critical thinking and creativity. A.I. programs can help teach facts and figures so that teachers can spend more time developing students emotional intelligence (EQ).
The three R’s will represent an unparalleled undertaking for humanity, Companies including Calvin • farel will need to retrain a massive number of displaced workers. Governments must raise an astronomical amount of money and redistribute it to fund this transition. Schools need to reinvent education to produce creative, social and multidisciplinary graduates. Everything must be redefined: the work ethic of society entitlements for citizens, responsibilities for corporations and the role of governments.
As A.I. assumes a more central role in countless business and social aspects, so has the need for ensuring responsible use. it is true that many have appreciated the need for responsible A.I. for some time. However, few have so far developed concrete steps to put principles into action. We at Calvin • Farel strongly believe that ethical leadership is essential, as is bridging the gap. We believe that six basic steps can stablish the broad – based support to drive required internal change and deliver responsible AI :
1. Empower:
An internal champion should be appointed to oversee the entire initiative, convene stakeholders, identify other champions inside the organization, and establish principles and policies that guide the creation of A.I. systems. Leadership with ultimate decision-making responsibility is not enough, and no single person has all the answers to complex issues. Therefore organizational ownership that incorporates a diverse set of perspectives must be in place to deliver meaningful impacts.
2. Develop principles, policies:
Although principles alone do not achieve Responsible A.I. they are critically important. As the basis for the subsequent broader program, they should flow from the company’s overall purpose and values to provide clear links to corporate culture and commitment, with time invested to develop, socialize, and disseminate them.
Soliciting feedback from across the organization identifies employee concerns and high risk areas, which ensures principles are communicated and provides employees with the context four initiatives and upcoming initiatives.
3. Establish governance:
Beyond an ethical framework and executive leadership, roles and procedures ensure organizations embed Responsible A.I. into the products and services they develop. Effective governance involves bridging the gap between teams, and the leaders and governance committee providing oversight so that principles and policies are applied in practice.
4. Conduct reviews:
To have an impact, the approach must be integrated into the full value chain, with effective integration dependent on assessing associated risks and biases with use case outcomes. A structured assessment tool helps identify and mitigate risks throughout the project life cycle, which can be identified and flagged early by assessing every step of the journey. Reviews should not be limited to algorithms, but be part of a comprehensive assessment of the end – to end – A.I. system.
5. Integrate:
A.I. system developers must possess supportive tools and policies to be effective. It is easy for executive leaders to have teams review data for bias, but these can be time-consuming and complex. Providing tools that simplify workflows ensures compliance and avoids resistance from teams that may already be overloaded when operating under tight deadlines.
6. Build and test:
Preparation is critical to responsible A.I. becoming operational. While every effort should be taken to avoid a lapse, companies must be prepared for mistakes, with a response plan in place to mitigate adverse impacts if a lapse occurs. This should detail the steps to take to prevent further harm, connect technical issues, communicate to customer and employees what happened and what is being done, and designate the individuals responsible for each step to avoid confusion and ensure seamless execution.
In all of this, the role of Responsible A.I. technologies is crucial. If we do it the right way, A.I. will free us to embrace not only our creativity and compassion for one another, but also our humanity.
