GabyParticipants in the September event Cosmos Science City discussed the jobs of the future in the context of rapid technological changes. Psychologist Ruchi Sinha expects that the transformational impact of AI on jobs will challenge assumptions about the value of people as workers.
The competitor is not AI, but people with its knowledge.
However, according to Ms. Sinha, people will not exit the workforce but will simply transition to a new level of work. Artificial intelligence will shift them towards interdisciplinary roles with the ability to connect different fields of knowledge, rather than specializing in narrow information specialties.
Ms. Sinha believes that education for the jobs of the future will make people more versatile in various fields rather than just one. She expects that artificial intelligence will not completely replace humans in the workplace. Moreover, people can adapt to technological changes, as happened with the advent of the internet and social media.
According to the psychologist, technology is not capable of taking jobs away from people. However, those who learn to use these innovations will take jobs from others who are less adaptable to new developments.
We need to look for advantages, not shortcomings.
Ms. Sinha’s perspective was supported by other forum participants, including Dr. Charlie Hargroves, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Commercialization, and Innovation at the University of Adelaide Business School, who pointed out the productivity benefits achieved through large language models like Chat GPT. According to him, 99% of businesses do not use AI, but the 1% that do gain a competitive advantage, and it’s not very difficult to start using it.
When Alphabet (the parent company of Google) and Meta ( Facebook Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram “killed” traditional advertising in the 2010s. Companies that shifted to digital marketing took advantage of the opportunity (which was then unregulated) to use vast amounts of user data available through these platforms and target audiences with much greater precision than billboards or TV ads. Today, “digital marketing” is no longer considered a separate field, and marketers possess skills in both traditional and digital marketing.
The digital sphere has provided new platforms for business. However, in the case of AI—especially large language models that imitate human intelligence—Ms. Sinha sees this as a fundamental challenge to what has been considered an intrinsic value of humans as workers: the automation of tasks, the collection and processing of information, and creativity.
Creating the perfect connection between people and technology.
According to Ms. Sinha, the era of AI development is significantly different from other technologies. All previous technologies helped people. They disrupted economies and structures, but did not question the meaning of human existence.
As noted by the publication Cosmosmagazine Changes in the nature of work in the age of artificial intelligence will not happen overnight. However, Ms. Sinha says that those who adapt to the changes with a solid understanding of real work and AI will gain an advantage. She also sees an important role for companies in creating constructive work for people that brings satisfaction.
According to Ms. Sinha, organizations can create the jobs of the future by actually establishing roles that provide meaning to people at work, where they participate in shaping culture and fostering cohesion within the group. The psychologist also believes that companies should invest in upskilling and developing employees, which will contribute to increased productivity in the future. This way, an ideal connection can be created between people and technology, where the latter does not hinder the former.
