Will artificial intelligence take over your job? What is the future of the millions of job seekers and young people still in education? Will they ever get jobs as AI systems become cheaper for employers?
The short answer is that there will be a demand for moderately skilled to highly skilled professionals in the workplace. Even better news for Kenya, where 84 per cent of workers are in the informal sector, is that manual labour will still require human hands. Manual labour dominates the construction and agriculture sectors. Artificial intelligence cannot replace masons, plumbers, carpenters and mechanics.
The World Economic Forum predicts in its Future of Jobs Report 2023 that the largest job losses will be in administrative, traditional security, factory and commerce roles. Jobs to be affected include record keeping, cashiers, ticket clerks, data entry, accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and secretarial jobs.
What jobs can you aim for to stay relevant in this age? "Artificial intelligence specialists top the list of fast-growing jobs, followed by sustainability specialists, business intelligence analysts and information security analysts," WEF says in its publication.
The technology sector is opening up more opportunities as employers look for e-commerce specialists, digital transformation specialists and digital marketing strategists. With the shift to green energy, there is a demand for renewable energy engineers, including specialists in solar energy installation and system engineers.
The good old teaching profession has a strong future as opportunities open up in vocational training institutions and universities. The increased demand for food is creating a demand for agricultural professionals, especially agricultural equipment operators.
"Workers who can complement the new automation and perform tasks beyond the abilities of machines often enjoy rising compensation. However, workers performing tasks for whom the machines can substitute are left worse off," Prof Harry Holzer of the Brookings Institute predicts.
Holzer believes workers will need "21st-century skills" to remain relevant in the face of artificial intelligence. Such skills include communication, complex analytical skills that often require careful judgement of multiple factors and creativity. Education systems should adapt and teach such skills.
You may think of artificial intelligence as a threat, but you probably are already using various products powered by AI without knowing it. Social media algorithms that analyse what content you like and then show you more of it are driven by artificial intelligence. Virtual assistants, online language translation, facial recognition and writing assistants are everyday examples of AI.
The new generation of AI is helping people summarise documents, draft sales pitches, sift through thousands of job applications, produce presentations and even generate realistic-looking pictures. Adopting AI-driven tools at the workplace can greatly improve one's ability to do more work. For example, why spend all day preparing a PowerPoint presentation if artificial intelligence can do it for you in minutes?
It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the workers who will survive the wave of artificial intelligence will be those who can exploit it to work smarter.