In the face of massive layoffs and rapid technological advances now shifting the very nature of some jobs, it is up to us to ensure our current workers and those entering the workforce in the future are employable. At the heart of these changes is our educational system. For far too long, education has been focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic – encouraging rote learning and attaining basic knowledge.
Fundamental changes to how we are educated – even from childhood – are required to ensure our future workforce is fully prepared to evolve and provide value in the workplace: the analytical thinking and creativity that has fueled centuries of technological innovation. To encourage this intellectual curiosity, which brings about novel solutions to longstanding or new challenges, we need to shift our focus to the three As: automation, artificial intelligence, and the advantages of humans.
Reskilling and Upskilling for a Future-Ready Workforce with AI Education
American businesses are facing an unprecedented challenge: the labor force simply doesn’t have enough qualified workers and the problem is growing. According to a recent Wiley report, the skills gap in the U.S. is rapidly spreading to more organizations. Among 600 human resources professionals surveyed by Wiley, 69% said their organization has a skills gap, up from 55% in a similar survey in 2021.
Many factors are contributing to the skills gap: some candidates lack industry experience, while others have not received the required training or do not have the basic skills to fill open positions. Rapid innovation and digitization are also playing a role. There’s no denying that technology has replaced humans in some sectors of the economy. According to McKinsey, 14% of the workforce worldwide will likely be forced to change jobs in the coming years as improved artificial intelligence, automation, and other technologies push traditional jobs toward obsolescence.
Currently, more than 25% of jobs in the U.S. are experiencing disruption due to automation, according to the Brookings Institution. Yet, even with the growth of automation and the potential for some jobs to become obsolete, humans are still necessary and the skills gap is creating a dire need to reskill and upskill employees to prepare a future-ready workforce.
Top AI ML News: AI Observability Leader TruEra Achieves SOC 2 Type II Security Certification
In response, employers are utilizing a variety of traditional training methods, like industry courses and qualifications, on-the-job training, and eLearning, among others. While effective in certain areas, these approaches don’t address perhaps the biggest issue surrounding today’s skills gap: our educational system, which has not kept pace with the evolution of the workplace and the disruption of emerging technologies.
Historically, learning has been siloed to a classroom setting where various standard curricula are pushed to the student. It makes sense that a high value is placed on the basics as a person will rarely make it far without a basic competency in reading, writing, and math. While there is much to be said about a formal education built on these foundations, today’s classroom is overlooking an essential need for real-world experiences and training.
A Wiley report suggests alternate credentials are gaining on the college degree as a way to validate a job candidate’s skills. While 81% of respondents believe earning a bachelor’s degree positions an individual for success, 62% place less value on whether applicants graduated from college, with most saying they would interview non-graduates who have five years of relevant work experience, certificates from colleges or universities, and digital badges or micro-credentials.
To ensure that workers are equipped with the skills they need to succeed, educational programs at all levels must better align with the needs of the modern workplace and economy, and take into account the evolution and effects of new and emerging tech. This requires a shift to the three As.
Cultivating Career Readiness with the Three As
In 2016, the World Economic Forum (WEF) wrote: We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society.
We are now well into this fourth industrial revolution – an era “characterized by a fusion of technologies blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.” Similar to how steam, electricity, and preliminary automation and machinery fueled the first three industrial revolutions, respectively, today there is great potential for applications of new technologies to create jobs previously undiscovered and build a path for personal advancement.
Employees and employers do see the potential of technology, even though automation and AI are replacing some jobs. One survey showed that 70% of workers believe automation will allow them to qualify for higher-skilled jobs. And more than half of employers view automation as a way to augment workers’ performance and productivity, not replace them altogether.
This change necessitates a shift to the three A’s:
- Advantages of humans – People have analytical capabilities that are not possible to recreate with AI or machine learning. We can take past knowledge and experience and process it in ways that computers cannot, giving us distinct advantages and unique roles in any workplace. We need to continue to understand and develop these advantages.
- Automating mundane work – Robotics and other technologies are helping address shortages of workers in certain sectors and ensuring that those still on the front lines, like in manufacturing facilities and recycling plants, have a safer, more efficient, and more productive workplace.
- Artificial intelligence – AI is a critical tool for knowledge-based learning, as it can repeat what it learns in a quick and scalable way. AI’s role is not to replace humans, but to complement and enhance what humans can do, making them more productive in the workforce.
The key to navigating these changes with AI education will be ensuring that our workforce is equipped with the intellectual curiosity and practical skills they need to succeed.
AI ML Insights: Riding on the Generative AI Hype, CDP Needs a New Definition in 2024
Comments are closed.