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A recent report by Goldman Sachs estimated that around 300 million jobs worldwide could be impacted by automation, with a quarter of all jobs potentially replaced by generative artificial intelligence. It has been.
With chatbots now able to write content and create visuals, AI threatens to disrupt jobs for designers, software engineers, and others, taking over a wide range of repetitive tasks currently performed by humans. At a broader level, however, AI is emerging as a work impact, and its impact on everything from top executive roles to call center operations is still unknown.
According to the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Work” report, which surveyed 803 companies around the world and was published in May, more than 75% of companies are considering adopting AI technology in the next five years.
We asked three experts who are closely watching the adoption of AI in the workplace to share their thoughts on how technology will change the roles of professionals, from C-suite to middle management to service. I asked.
A new C-suite role emerges as Chief AI Officer
Asha Palmer, senior vice president of compliance solutions at digital learning platform Skillsoft, said every C-suite has an executive overseeing privacy and data, with AI overseeing the creation of a chief AI officer and AI security. He said it could prompt the creation of an entire division to do so.
“Ten years ago, it was almost impossible to find a chief privacy officer. Now every company has a chief privacy officer,” Palmer said. “When you think about data privacy, I think AI can take a very similar approach, as well as being a department that has people dedicated to it.”
As AI becomes more pervasive, the Chief AI Officer will become a key decision maker in setting priorities across the organization. Palmer said companies need to take precautions and put guardrails in place to monitor the use of AI, starting with training employees on how to use chatbots and generative AI.
“Employees must be taught not to copy company information, such as meeting notes or confidential company documents, into generative AI,” she says. “If your employees are properly trained, they should keep these rules in mind before using them.”
The future Chief AI Officer will not only provide training and safety measures for employees, but also how companies will disclose environmental, social and governance issues that may exist in their algorithms. There will also be an emphasis on transparency.
“Transparency mechanisms include: How are you checking for bias? What is your bias percentage? What is your accuracy percentage? What is your source list?” Mr Palmer said. “Companies using or buying AI should ask AI companies what their transparency metrics are, how often they are audited or checked, and ask them to make this information public.”
Service and call center jobs have lower barriers to entry
According to Shahar Chen, CEO and co-founder of Aquant, an AI-powered platform for the service industry, as AI transforms roles, the technology will become more relevant to the skills and access needed in specific jobs and industries. You will lower the barrier.
Chen said AI will have a positive impact on service businesses, especially those that involve repair technicians and call center agents, and that AI will help these roles and minimize the skills required to perform the job. said it can.
“What AI is changing is that the skills required to become a call agent or technician are much lower,” says Cheng. “If I’m on the phone and they call me and tell me their washing machine is broken, I can tell the AI, ‘How can I guide the customer to fix the leaking washing machine?’ ?’ The only skill I need is to be able to read from the screen.”
Lowering the barriers to entry for becoming a technician or call center agent will allow companies to cast a wider net for potential employees. AI will also change customer demand, as customers expect faster results with more technicians on the ground.
Middle managers need to adopt AI urgently
Employees and businesses need to embrace and leverage AI as much as possible, and it could be as important as middle management, says Danny King, CEO and co-founder With Accredible, a digital authentication platform that works with customers from Google to MIT to Harvard to McGraw Hill.
Office workers face a challenge, he said, especially in the role of middle managers, “when it’s unclear how AI will affect them.”
It’s an optimistic case for middle management. Whether it’s an AI department or a shift in the staffing of consumer electronics engineers, the need for middle management exists in every industry as long as it adapts and evolves with the changes that technology creates.
The same thinking applies to consulting, human resources, and project management. AI will automate the mundane tasks of these roles, freeing up humans to focus on more creative and high-value work, King said. “Most people fear these jobs will be replaced, but I think AI will help them and it will likely be safer,” he said.
But even with the many benefits of introducing AI into the workplace, Palmer said it would be a mistake to ignore the risks of using AI for more employees.
“You can’t get everything right in the first round because there can be unpredictable risks,” Palmer said. “But there are many opportunities to enhance education, awareness, and knowledge gathering and building. There are tremendous efficiencies that AI can build, and it will not go away.”
