Growth of AI Means We Need To Retrain Workers… Now

Financial Planner Gaithersburg

By Ryan Wibberley, Chief Executive Officer of CIC Wealth

Summary

Imagine a future where robots suggest where to go for dinner, which meetings to take, or even which hotel you should stay at. This is just the beginning of the impact Artificial Intelligence (AI) can have on the ways we work and interact with one another. In 2011, when Apple first introduced Siri, it scratched the surface of the true capabilities of AI. Siri was used for voice recognition and digital assistance but now as technology leaps forwards, experts predict AI could transform business and our personal lives in more ways than we can imagine. Why the sudden barrage of predictions for AI? It is because of three recent breakthroughs; Cheap parallel computing, big data, and better algorithms. As a result, AI made huge leaps in 2016. Companies like Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft released AI-powered applications last year. It is predicted that software and services of AI-related hardware will increase from $8 billion in 2016 to $47 billion by 2020. AI offers many advantages to consumers, but there are some drawbacks. Analysts predict that AI technology could eliminate some types of jobs. While low-skill, assembly-line types of positions seem the obvious place for AI and automation to take over, white collar jobs could be at stake as well. At Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance they have fired 34 insurance claim workers and replaced them with AI-based systems. On the other hand, AI could take over mundane, repetitive tasks and let workers who perform them take on more interesting work. But this means we will have to retrain many workers. Another solution could be rethinking our education. We are still training kids for the types of jobs we’ve always had. If we were to add more technology and digital tools to our education systems we could give young people the best shot at meaningful and long-lived careers. IBM has already promoted a new educational model that consists of six-year public high schools that combine conventional education with mentoring and on-the-job experience. If we are able to incorporate new technology and digital tools into our youth education system, we will be able to control AI not compete with it.