RIYADH: If business executives do not adopt artificial intelligence technology now, they will soon become outdated and be pushed out by competitors, a Saudi Arabian AI consultant has warned.
Mohammed Alkarni, an academic, business AI consultant and CEO of Saudi Arabian AI consulting firm Foresighted, believes it's important for companies to start experimenting with AI now or they'll quickly fall behind more agile competitors.
“AI is not going to take your job, it’s someone using AI that is going to take your job,” Al-Qarni told Arab News.
Foresighted works with executives to improve their understanding of the benefits and limitations of AI, drive the development of innovative business models, and integrate AI technology into their business plans.
“One of our main philosophies is that no one understands business better than the business people themselves,” Alkarni says. “AI can't do everything, so we teach them what it can and can't do.”
Alqarni is developing a “Generative AI Organizational Transformation Framework” that considers key areas of impact of AI, such as the impact of automation on a range of jobs, including senior management roles.
“A really interesting insight we discovered is that the higher the skills required, the greater the impact of AI will be,” Alkarni said.
“Initial analysis shows that for managers, AI will have a bigger impact on their work. This makes a lot of sense, as their main job is document review and strategy-level work, which is highly data-dependent, so AI will be of great help.
“The lower-level, more operational tasks tend to have less of an impact from AI because they are typically more manual.”
For many in the business world, AI is just a trendy buzzword that isn't yet fully understood, and Alkarni believes that executives cannot afford to be complacent about a seismic shift already underway.
When asked about the potential consequences that executives and companies could face if they didn't embrace AI, Alkarni was clear: “We'll go out of business.”
He added: “As I said, AI is no longer an option. AI is your only defense against disruption. If you don't change, someone else will force you to change or you'll go out of business. The sooner you start, the better.”
To avoid falling behind, Alkarni says business leaders should start experimenting with AI now and encourage their employees to use it in their jobs. “I'm not saying deploy AI right now, I'm just saying start experimenting now,” he said.
One of the biggest reasons executives hesitate to adopt AI is that they're “too busy” and don't have time to experiment, but Alkarni said executives “need to create a culture of innovation, a culture of experimentation, to make sure we're using AI in the best way possible.”
Some may be putting off adopting AI out of concern that it could eliminate many human jobs. Alkarni acknowledges that the transition to AI could be painful, but he thinks it's a mistake to close your eyes to reality.
“The way I think about AI and unemployment, because this is the ultimate fear at the government level, is that AI will definitely eliminate jobs, but it will also transform some jobs and at the same time, it will create more jobs,” he said.
“The question is not whether AI will eliminate jobs, but how many jobs will be created, how many jobs will be eliminated, and how many jobs will be transformed.”
Al-Qarni drew a parallel with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, when large steam-powered factories destroyed many traditional cottage industries and crafts, and said the job market eventually “balanced out” as more jobs were created.
Likewise, he thinks the hiring landscape will adapt to the rhythm of the AI era. “My only concern is the speed at which this has happened,” Alkarni says. “I think we’ll feel it more with AI because the developments are much faster.”
“Building a factory takes years. But building a model AI agent to replace a human could take days.”
“Job creation and job elimination are not black and white, they are a matter of scale. There will be jobs created but also jobs lost, jobs shifting and jobs changing.”
For Alkarni, therefore, the best way to ensure job security during this turbulent transition is to reskill workers.
“People who lose their jobs need to be retrained with the right skills that the market needs,” he said. “For jobs that are changing, it's about upskilling.”
Al-Qarni believes Saudi Arabia should prepare its young workers for a rapidly changing job market.
“The Vision 2030 programme responsible for such planning should take into account the impact of AI on jobs in the near and distant future,” he said.
“This will ensure that job creation meets necessary demand – a key consideration that has not been adequately addressed.”
