It is everywhere in the news - AI is taking over the world. While frightening, there is good news, but it is more nuanced. If there is a short summary it is this: structured, well-defined problems are where AI shines, but when it comes to complex and sustained reasoning - AI struggles. And struggles a lot.
But the future can be a little more intimidating than just saying sustained complexity is where AI struggles. Enter the nuance.
It seems that AI is currently taking the most routine and digitally contained entry-level work. This should be partially seen as a good thing as the idea of it means more advanced, creative work for humans - but the other side of that is entry-level.
How do we account for growth when the entry-level opportunities are being chiseled away?
That was always a hard enough beast to overcome. I remember my college days and graduating - which took me 2 years and 3 career shifts to finally get into the technology field. So can we actually solve this problem moving forward?
Amazingly, yes we can. Currently, 8 of the top 10 requested skills in U.S. job postings are human related - collaboration, critical thinking, leadership, etc. These are indeed valuable for everyone to learn and grow in. And that should give us hope because this is something humans are uniquely positioned for.
We need to build systems for humans to learn AI fluency, and focus on skills that AI cannot replicate, while providing opportunities to upskill working people. A positive example appears to be IBM’s “New Collar” jobs initiative. This initiative is focusing on hiring for skills over degrees, and actively reskilling employees into fields such as cloud computing, AI, and cybersecurity roles.
AI is clearly here to stay, but we should not be afraid of it.
As an aside, I did research using AI to give many arguments and sift through data points to finally get a summary that I think shows the near future of AI and humans - but a very real point of tension:
The real displacement risk is not sudden replacement, but gradual narrowing: fewer entry points into careers, slower hiring for junior roles, and a widening skills gap between workers who can leverage AI and those who cannot.
But to combat this, we need to stop anticipating the future of AI (which companies are using AI as the reason for layoffs) and realize that the systems - the infrastructure - needs to adapt for a new future that can support both AI and humans. Entry-level workers themselves are more curious about AI than afraid of it. This gives me hope for all of us breaking into or navigating a new workforce.
Investing in human skills and developing AI fluency will make us incredibly relevant to the workforce, and will make all of us better as a whole. The future seems bright, and ready to be written.