#AI@Work: Please Get All Heads Out of the Sand! NOW!!
AI will impact most industries. Most AI applications for the workforce currently are concerned with process, procedure, workflow improvement or replacement. AI also requires new kinds of talent. Engineers, programmers, analysts and other AI related professionals are part of the package whether they are in-house or contract. Oftentimes in order to address human needs, AI can’t just be dropped into place. It has to be installed. AI needs to adapt and then adjustments made. Employing AI is often a disturbing and resisted process (Thomsen Reuters, 2020).
What does all this mean for humans that work for a living? It means we have to get smart. The disruption is already here. The impact on jobs is already enormous. Brick and mortar stores are disappearing, and retail jobs are becoming a thing of the past. Online retailers use AI to not only provide potential customers with data driven suggestions but also to deliver purchases to their doorstep. The supply chain is optimized online. Browsing history and purchasing recommendations have been able to optimize supply and demand in a way face to face retailing never achieved.
As old jobs vanish, new ones are created. Retail service jobs are down, and light trucking and delivery services are up. It turns out we haven’t stopped shopping; we still want consumer goods. New jobs are springing up to support new business models. When autonomous cars and trucks hit the market, delivery jobs and trucking jobs will change. Job creation and job destruction are both on the horizon for most if not all industries. The real question is what kinds of jobs are going away and what new ones should we be planning for? How does that impact our labor laws? How much worker monitoring and control will we give AI? Who is an employee and who is a contractor? What does the company need to do or provide to support the worker? Legislation is needed to untangle these changes. We know from experience that industrial revolutions aren’t easy. We need to plan for and manage the changing nature of work. Most importantly we need to focus on creating new jobs, training and retraining people to adjust to new roles.
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