This week the House of Lords today issued a parliamentary report on Artificial Intelligence, which concluded that the UK has the potential to be a leader in developing AI and called on the government to support businesses in the field, while also highlighting that ethics should be at the centre of these developments. James Longworth, Solutions Architect Manager at Insight, believes that businesses should join government in helping the workforce adapt to AI.
A lot of the discussion on AI so far has presented an alarming vision of mass unemployment. It’s therefore encouraging to see this report take a more positive approach by focusing on the opportunity at hand. Yes, the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace may lead to many roles becoming redundant, however, the sheer complexity of the technology will also create jobs that we currently can’t even conceive of yet. And these won’t necessarily all be jobs involving advanced analytical abilities.
For example, we can already see the need for AI strategists to help organisations understand where they should and should not apply the technology or for empathetic and creative people to help chatbots interact with people without getting stuck in the ‘uncanny valley.’ So what other jobs will spring up as more organisations adopt the technology?
In order to be in a position to take full advantage of AI’s huge potential, businesses should join government in helping their workforce move towards this exciting future. Many of these novel jobs will involve working in close contact with AI, and therefore a basic understanding of the technology is vital.
Beyond this, at this stage we don’t know exactly how quickly the technology will evolve, and therefore businesses must be ready to skill up their workforce as new technological possibilities emerge. The future will move fast, and this will put a premium on people and organisations who can adapt quickly. It’s up to businesses to begin doing the groundwork now.
By James Longworth
Solutions Architect Manager
Insight