Around
the world people in different cultures and fields are noticing something
revolutionary to happen. Artificial intelligence (AI) modifies the traditional
order and ways of life, and its impact extends literally in almost every area
of the human life. Still, there is one area, where the impact maybe is more
intense compared to others, namely the work life. In their article AI and the Agile Workplaces Bobbe Baggio
and Nov Omana discuss and investigate, what will happen when people accept AI
as a normal part of their lives and work. The same topic deals also The Workplace of the Future, published
in Economist in spring 2018. In this essay my goal is, using the two mentioned
articles, to answer the question which AI strongly raises, namely will there be
any jobs in the future, and if so, what kind of those would be?
Firstly,
there is a question that must be asked: Why do firms want to start using AI in
their businesses? Surely without firms, there will not be any workplaces, and
what firms do is thus very significant to wage earners. All in all, the reason for the question asked
is though quite simple. Using AI makes the business more productive when there
are not so many slow employees needed in different tasks. Computer’s ability to
sort out different problems related to for example language and logic is way
much better than a normal employee’s, and therefore that is not a big surprise
that firms invest in AI. (Baggio & Omana 2019, 84.) AI can simply bring
considerable economic value (Economist 28.3.2018). That is just how competitive
and profit-seeking economy works, costs always down and prices up. Manpower is
like a redundant cost that nowadays can be cut. However, there are fields and
jobs, which are more endangered to be done by intelligent machines than others,
what are they?
When
thinking about what workplaces would disappear and what last, one must think
about what is that computers do better than humans and opposite. Thus in
tomorrow’s labor markets are at the most vulnerable position those wage earners,
whose tasks are day to day very similar and repetitive, and thus intelligent
machines can easily learn to do them better (Baggio & Omana 2019, 84 - 85.)
So this does not apply only to workers in foggy factories, but also to persons
in the service industry. AI can help for example hiring new workforce, (when
still needed), and this means that there will not be so much work for human
resource managers (Economist 28.3.2018). So all in all it can be said that
every job, in which could intelligent machine’s ability to count fast and
precisely be a benefit, is potentially and gradually disappearing in the future
(Baggio & Omana 2019, 85.) If the situation really is so that AI replaces
manpower increasingly, then it raises an interesting question for people at a
young age: What to study if one wants to get a job? Thinking this is relevant
because it helps to get in touch about what kind of are jobs in the future.
So,
it can be said that whole educational thinking needs revision because students
will study what they are offered. Universities have to start thinking about
what they should teach so that the skills students learn would really be
useful. Those skills are maybe not hard counting, or logic, or even languages
like said above. Instead, relevant skills in tomorrow’s labor markets could be
‘soft skills' like communication, team leading, giving presentations, and
innovation thinking. (Baggio & Omana 2019, 89 - 90.) It seems to be clear
that AI makes teamwork more intense because it helps and widens chances to
communicate, so the skills mentioned, will possibly be truly valuable
(Economist 28.3.2018). After analyzing firms’ motivation to use AI,
disappearing workplaces in some fields, and now the educational revision driven
by AI, there is finally the ability to answer the question asked in the
introduction: Are there jobs in the future and how would they look like?
At least in short term, it seems to be that AI
does not replace humans totally. That is so because today’s AI cannot do all
the things humans can. Tomorrow’s work-life would then be more hybrid. There
are things that are done by AI using machines, and then there are things done
by humans. (Baggio & Omana 2019, 89.)
In the best case, both support each other and make work more enjoyable
and productive. Employees have to think about what skills are relevant and
scarce in labor markets, and if one develops and own those kinds of skills,
then there will surely be work to do (Economist 28.3.2018). The jobs there
would still be, are such that need diverse thinking and empathy skills, because
it can be thought that AI cannot easily learn and adopt those.
I
conclude by saying that, yes there will surely be work to do in the future, but
because of the economical system driven by competitive and profit-seeking
firms, is artificial intelligence becoming more general, and then causing
structural unemployment in some fields. The work-life will change, and
individuals have to educate themselves all the time, and the education will be
a lifetime process, not a short period at a young age. This means that
individuals have to be more adaptive for all the time-changing environments and
conditions. Tomorrow’s jobs then will be more creative and diverse intense,
rather large entities than small details. Though one must keep in mind that
this is the interpretation in short term, not the overall result in long run.
Today no one knows, how AI develops in the future, and what its possible bounds
are if it even has any of them. In other words, there is a possibility for
total human unemployment, when we take enough long time period. However, in
short term, there is no reason to panic: There will be work to do also
tomorrow.
References:
Baggio,
Bobbe. & Omana, Nov. (2019) AI and the Agile Workplace. Journal of systemics, cybernetics and
informatics 17:2, 84 – 91.
The Economist (2018) The Workplace of the future. 28.3.2018.
