Artificial Intelligence is after your job. So what now?
A WYCO Forward issue by Michaela Murray
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, recently made the claim that artificial intelligence (AI) will do more for humanity than fire or electricity. Fire and electricity were hot shit in their day, so expectations around the foreseeable technological advancements are pretty high.
Industries across the board are taking advantage of AI to accurately predict demand, to recruit new talent, and to enhance customer service. During the year of 2017, companies outlaid $22bn to bolster lateral partnerships that will ultimately set them on the right track when it comes to an integrated AI future. According to a special report conducted by The Economist earlier this month, this amount is about 26 times more than what was spent on AI-related mergers and acquisitions in 2015.
Society is embracing the development, both in attitude and in practical application. According to a recent study by Gallup, 5 in every 6 Americans currently use an AI incorporated product or service. As generations progress, we are increasingly becoming more literate in operating such products, and there are no signs of us slowing down.
Over the next 20 years, AI is mapped to replace two-thirds of existing jobs.
We are on the cusp of something big and its invigorating. However, it’s equally as troublesome. Over the next 20 years, AI is mapped to replace two-thirds of existing jobs. This shift is likely to cause more dramatic inequality in the professional arena, dividing workers into two camps: those that are employed in low wage manual jobs, and high earning specialists. The middle income jobs that make up most of today’s job market will become far more limited — a symptom we are seeing with more and more prevalence.
As these roles start becoming less accessible, those in the relevant job market need to start adapting to the changing professional landscape. This means that certain assumptions need to be destabilised. Assumptions that have up until now determined the progression of life stages.
One of these assumptions is the location complex. Historically, moving from one place to another was characterised by mass effort and time — even when looking at periods as recent as 50 years ago. The challenges that faced general mobility, on a global level or even just nationally, contributed to the stoic assumption that location was a factor that preceded career decisions. Put simply, once a home location was established for a family, career choices were limited by that particular location. Moving location for a job was more rare than it is today.
As transportation technology has developed and become far more accessible to the general public, along with the development of helpful moving services, so has mobility between cities or countries become that much more fluid and frequent. And it’s only beginning.
Within the context of diminishing middle income jobs as a result of ‘AI creep’, it is now time to change our mindsets when it comes to mobility. The concept of “putting down roots” is a relic of the past and will impede professional success moving forward. As a society of professionals living in a mobile friendly world, it’s necessary that we prioritise job decisions over location, moving to where professional opportunities are, and so do more often. Remote lifestyles, currently offered as optional perks by some progressive employers to retain talent, will essentially become prerequisites to professionally achieve. We will have to incorporate a never-seen-before flexibility into all aspects of our lives; a flexibility that will transition us into a new age.
AI is coming and it’s bringing the goodies. But it is also bringing job insecurity. It’s up to us to be malleable in the face of imminent and inevitable change. The future is remote, and the sooner we realise this, the sooner we can secure relevance in a changing world.
