Human beings are living in amazing times; automatic cars, delivery drones, and chatbots taking orders define the lifestyle of the twenty-first century. However, if we take a closer look at the fast unraveling realities, we may come to realize that the common man of today is increasingly becoming irrelevant. Artificial intelligence is manifesting itself as a double-edged sword. It is freeing human beings from needless drudgework while slashing millions of jobs in the process.
This makes one think; is AI shaping a world where the principle of survival of the fittest will determine the evolution of the human race? Many experts, including Yuval Noah Harari, Michael Chui, and Maddalaine Ansell, think so. As per them, it is only a matter of time before the Luddite riots of 1811 appear again on the world streets. Yuval Harari in his magnum opus “21 lessons for the twenty-first century” opines the future job market looks uncertain at best. A possible convergence between biotech and infotech can revolutionize things further by marking numerous breakthroughs that may involve the emergence of AI doctors, examiners, artists, investors, HR personnel, traffic safety and control officers, manufacturers, and the list goes on.
A report by McKinsey Global Institute states almost 15% of the global workforce is likely to get displaced in the period 2016-2030 due to ongoing automation and a further 3% could be forced to change occupations. Although many are optimistic that AI will generate more jobs just like mechanization of the 18th and 19th centuries did, it seems unlikely as this time around, machines are replacing humans in jobs that require physical as well as cognitive abilities. Scientists believe that AI is rapidly improving its ability to perform pattern recognition and understand emotions.
Is AI shaping a world where the principle of survival of the fittest will determine the evolution of the human race? Many experts, including Yuval Noah Harari, Michael Chui, and Maddalaine Ansell, think so.
As a matter of fact, AI has already made significant inroads in a number of notable professions. For instance, Buoy Health is an AI-based symptoms checker that uses algorithms to diagnose and treat illness. It is currently being used by Harvard Medical School as a health assistant. This development directly influences the career prospects of General Physicians and Radiologists. In 2016, a renowned cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, Professor Geoffrey Hinton remarked, “It’s quite obvious that we should stop training radiologists.” His stance can be substantiated with the example of ‘Enlitic’, a deep learning software that accurately studies x-rays to identify health issues, which is lauded by the likes of MIT.
It would not be wrong to suggest that workers employed in the manufacturing industry will get hit the most. We are already seeing robots overtaking the majority of production at factories. Warehouse operations are also being increasingly automated. According to a Forbes strategic report “Warehouse 2025”, Amazon has 30,000 fulfillment robots doing tasks at its warehouses. The state-of-the-art factory plant by Tesla “Gigafactory 1” in Nevada is also a case in point as it largely employs self-navigating and customizable robots to aid the production process.
The banking and entertainment sectors are also witnessing the ever-expanding application of Artificial Intelligence. Smart chatbots are handling customer service, algorithms are buying bonds and shares, and Machine Learning models are making personalized recommendations for clients. One would not be surprised to know that Netflix is using AI to make viewing recommendations based on user interest. Big data analysis employed during predictive and descriptive analytics is helping firms craft desirable offers and run effective marketing campaigns. Not to mention, AI is also taking care of Human Resource Management by interviewing and recruiting candidates for companies like PepsiCo. A SEMRush report states, Artificial Intelligence increased business value worth $2.9 trillion across the globe in the year 2021 alone.
It is important to highlight that this is not a one-time event. It is a dynamic process that will keep on shaping the world forever, meaning people will have to keep updating their skills in order to stay relevant in the job market. It might have been easy for a weaver struggling in the times of the first industrial revolution to switch to a different and relatively more technical job, but it may not be possible for a content writer of today to quickly learn a new highly specialized skill if he is suddenly put on a notice period in turbulent times where there is scarcity of jobs opportunities. As Yuval Noah Harari also says, we might have to keep reinventing ourselves to remain employed in the future. This also means revolutionizing the education sector to instill critical abilities and psychological resilience in our children so they can cope with the rapidly changing world.
