15 Reasons AI will create more jobs than it takes

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining traction. This is mainly because it has broken the bottleneck of human efficiency, reduced repetitive work, and enhanced work efficiency. As a result, almost every industry in the world is planning to leverage AI or has already implemented it in their business.

However, implementing AI can also lead to the elimination of a lot of human jobs. In fact, in areas such as medical diagnosis, speech translation, and accounting, AI has outperformed humans in every way imaginable. Thus, there is this underlying fear that AI will one day take over most of the jobs in the world.

According to accountancy firm PwC, over 7 million jobs will be displaced by AI between 2017 and 2037. However, it will also lead to the generation of 7.2 million jobs, which is a net gain of 200,000 jobs.

Taking all of this into account, here are 15 reasons why AI will create more jobs than it takes:

1. The demand for man-machine hybrid teams

The future of employment will depend on how well humans and AI blend to create augmented hybrid teams. An AI has strengths such as speed, accuracy, computation, etc. A human has strengths such as empathy, judgment, cognition, etc. This role will combine these strengths of both AI and humans to generate better business outcomes. Last year’s Accenture report estimated that new applications of AI-human collaboration could boost employment by 10% by 2020.

2. Worldwide employment

Companies that effectively implement AI can generate more money for their businesses. This, in turn, leads to higher employee wages, better technology tools, and greater efficiency. With such success, companies can actually spread their reach across the world. As a result, they will require a global workforce which again generates huge employment opportunities.

3. AI’s role in marketing and sales

AI has already started playing a substantial role in marketing and sales. Through the development of smart databases, AI can help in building effective, large-scale sales forces. Tools such as Zendesk and Salesforce, are using AI to develop insights that can help companies in recruiting the right sales teams for their business.

4. AI will help companies scale up

If AI and machine learning algorithms can wisely use large amounts of big data, it will help companies perform better. It will also increase the employee retention rate and help in new customer acquisition. This will create new job opportunities as companies begin to scale up and grow, and benefit the industry as a whole.

5. AI will create new job positions

A recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report estimated that nearly 50% of the full-time workforce of companies will shrink over the next few years. Although AI will eliminate jobs, it will create a demand for new job positions. For AI to function properly, humans will be needed to check work, improve it and manage it. The WEF indicated that the new positions will require additional skills for managing the interface between technology and humans.

6. AI maintenance jobs

AI is helping businesses operate more efficiently especially in areas such as customer service, automation, etc. Some companies have even integrated AI in all their crucial systems. As AI gets implemented in every industry, the demand for an AI maintenance workforce is going to skyrocket. Companies would need large amounts of AI developers and engineers to maintain their systems.

7. AI in Robotics

The area of robotics will see massive growth in the next few years. AI-based robots such as stationary robots, non-humanoid land robots, and fully automated aerial drones, are gaining significant business interest from companies globally. This increased demand is bound to open a lot of job roles for AI robotics engineers.

8. AI Facilitator roles

AI’s increased adoption in companies will see a demand for AI facilitators who will provide businesses with the flexibility to compile their own AI environments. This role will involve the creation of automated environments as well as build systems such as virtual assistants. The AI-based environments will help employees work better without compromising on security, governance, data control and compliance.

9. AI in Healthcare

Healthcare is one area where there is a lot of scope for AI applications. PwC estimates that it would be one of the biggest winners from AI, where job opportunities could increase by nearly 1 million. In the near future, AI-powered healthcare will be available at scale and on-demand to everyone. Hence, the requirement for AI-assisted healthcare technician jobs will see an upward surge.

10. AI in the Gaming industry

The gaming industry is one area where AI applications are immense. Right from game design and development to in-game operations and maintenance, AI plays an indispensable role that is reaping huge rewards for gaming companies. With virtual reality games becoming highly popular, companies are bound to invest a lot of money on AI-based systems. Thus, AI developer jobs in gaming will be in high demand.

11. AI in Automated Transportation

AI is already playing a major role in the automated transportation sector. Companies like Uber and Google are investing millions of dollars into AI-driven self-driving cars and trucks. As this mode of transportation picks up in the future, it is going to create plenty of vacancies for AI and machine learning engineers.

12. AI in Financial Services

Financial Services companies such as banks require AI engineers to develop systems that can identify and mitigate fraud. They are also using machine learning based anomaly detection models to monitor transaction requests and identify suspicious activity. Apart from security, AI is being increasingly used in financial marketing. Financial companies are developing systems that can orchestrate customer journeys on their most preferred channels and at the right time. Thus, in the Financial Services sector, the AI job scenario is highly positive.

13. AI in Education

PwC’s recent report revealed that the education sector is poised to get almost 200,000 extra jobs. The education industry is slowly shifting towards e-learning. Concepts such as smart content, personalized learning, and other data-driven operations depend heavily on AI. An eSchool News study indicated that the application of AI in education will be increased by 47.5% by 2021. For facilitating such growth, the industry will need to hire plenty of AI and machine learning experts.

14. AI in the Entertainment industry

AI and machine learning have seen massive potential in the entertainment industry. Streaming service companies such as Spotify, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc. are already using AI technology in their business model. By identifying the online behaviour of consumers, AI algorithms help in recommending media which suits the consumer’s preferences. This is just one of the umpteen use cases that AI offers for this industry. The industry will therefore definitely hire a huge AI workforce to fulfill all their requirements.

15. AI and Digital Assistants

Digital assistants such as the Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, and Bixby are getting smarter by the year. Global IT behemoths such as Google, Samsung, and Amazon are pouring billions of dollars into making digital assistants perform complex tasks. These tasks include learning about our daily routines, speech recognition, etc. According to Zion market research, by 2025, the global intelligent virtual assistant market will reach $19.6 billion. This estimate purely indicates that a large amount of AI jobs will get generated in this industry.

To explore a career in AI, you can visit: www.greatlearning.in