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With artificial intelligence becoming both more useful and more widespread, workers around the world worry about the consequences of a new age of automation on their career prospects.
A recent Pew Research study found that in 10 advanced and emerging economies, most workers expect computers to do most of the work currently done by humans in the next 50 years. Workers are clearly worried about the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on the job market.
Estimates of the amount of labor that can be automated range from about 9% to about 47%. The McKinsey consulting firm believes 800 million workers Globally, robotic automation could replace jobs by 2030. Some jobs will change dramatically, while others will disappear completely.
So, if automation makes the job market a bit like a game of musical chairs, is there a way to make sure you're always employed when the music stops? Can education help you put your career to the test of robots?
According to Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun, who wrote Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the era of artificial intelligence, to ensure the future of your career, he It's less important to choose a safe job than to constantly update your skills.
He says that education must change drastically if workers have to adapt to this new environment. His solution, which he calls human, rests on three fundamental pillars:
Technical capacity: to understand how machines work and how to interact with them. As artificial intelligence and robotics become more and more efficient, machines will be badigned roles once monopolized by humans. Some employees will not last but others will work with machines, which will probably make them much more productive. Workers who master the principles of coding and engineering will be in a better position to thrive in this new type of workplace.
Discipline of data: navigate the sea of information generated by these machines. Workers will need to master databases to read, badyze, and use the countless sources of information that are increasingly becoming the focus of attention, from large business decisions to stock choices to decisions. purchase.
And human discipline: "What we humans can do, that machines in the foreseeable future can not imitate". Aoun says that this includes creativity, cultural agility, empathy and the ability to take information from one context and apply it to another. Pedagogically, this means less importance for the clbad and more for learning by experience.
The World Economic Forum suggests that many white-collar jobs, such as accounting, will be threatened by future automation, while the OECD indicates that low-skilled jobs will be the most vulnerable and that they will be more vulnerable. there is a strong correlation between education and income. In both cases, skills become obsolete faster than ever.
A generation ago, the half-life of a skill was about 26 years old. Today it's been four and a half years and it's down – Indranil Roy
"A generation ago, the half-life of a skill was about 26 years old and that was the career model. Today it's been four and a half years now, "said Indranil Roy, head of the Center of Excellence for the Future of Work, created by international consulting firm Deloitte.
Aoun says that the fast pace of change is not necessarily negative, but it does mean that you will probably never go over homework. It also means that universities will have to focus more on continuing education and training of mid-career workers.
"We are constantly becoming obsolete. And, in some ways, it's a great opportunity for all of us to re-educate and update ourselves. Those who are able to do it will be able to flourish, "he says.
Aoun is concerned that the higher education system is not equipped for this new reality. He added that many universities are far too focused on undergraduate courses and university research lasting four years.
It is equally important to help students graduate, he says, to help students master "human discipline." The solution is to put more emphasis on the real world experience. This could mean taking a long term job or internship while studying. In addition to career experience, this allows students to acquire the basic skills to negotiate and interact with their colleagues.
"It also allows you to see opportunities and see the gaps, and that's where you can say," I'm going to start a business or a non-profit organization, "" he says.
Roy agrees that many employers are placing more and more importance on life skills. Some of Deloitte's "more progressive" clients use artificial intelligence to gain skills such as badysis, freelancers to gain deep technical skills, and only employ people with "core competencies" and values that closely match to the organization. But he points out that these are skills that come mainly from outside academia.
McKinsey suggests that by 2030, the workforce will devote 55% more time to technical skills than in 2016. World Economic Forum, meanwhile, provides a net gain of jobs through automation, some jobs being removed but more created.
According to Roy, this probably means a workplace in which robots work alongside humans. For example, some Deloitte customers have AI systems that attend and attend meetings.
Aoun agrees that it is important to understand that we are changing our relationship with machines in the workplace and adapting education accordingly.
"In the same way that once we have autonomous cars, driving education will be clearly transformed. Technology will therefore make some areas obsolete, but not humans, "he says.
Aun says perhaps first and foremost that humans must focus on skills that are harder to replicate for artificial intelligence. Concretely, this means taking knowledge from one context or discipline and applying it to another. Humanics itself consists of combining three distinct disciplines.
"We humans are creative, innovative, entrepreneurs. We are able to interact with other people, to work with them, to show empathy. We can be culturally agile and work with people from different backgrounds. We can be global, "he said.
Roy says universities, particularly in the United States, Canada and Australia, are increasingly focusing on interdisciplinary studies. However tertiary institutions in other countries are still a bit more traditional in their approach.
Technology is constantly pushing our expectations, change being the only certainty. Roy says he is "surprised every day" by the barriers that break.
So maybe it's not enough to help workers survive in a job market similar to a musical chair. Maybe they also need to survive in a place where all the chairs are constantly moving.
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