It’s amazing how many conversations I have had lately with people around this subject. I self-confess a fan of Artificial Intelligence (AI, not to be confused with another great AI of Appreciative Inquiry). However, I am even a greater fan of what’s behind the AI… yes I am talking about humans.
Yes, the world is changing and AI is becoming a lot more capable of doing amazing things. I have a friend who works in the area in Mexico and when I look at the updates of what his robot can do, I am just in awe. However, see my friend works on the robot. Therefore I do not believe robots will be taking over our jobs any time soon.
What I do believe is that robots will do many things and the future of work will definitely be changed by what AI can and will be able to do. We have already seen the rise of Digital (another thing I am a great fan of) and how jobs and roles have needed to shift and change, but also how the dull boring work has been able to be automated so we can focus on what we do best as humans.
There are some things that at the moment only humans can do which are essential for the workplace:
Creativity
Innovation
Challenging the status quo
Empathy
Building connections and relationships
Supporting others
These I believe are still essential to create successful businesses and therefore there is still very much a place for humans. Plus we need really great people who can programme and keep developing AI, but we also need people to lead, create new innovations (look at all the stuff Elon Musk and Richard Branson do, could a robot do that? The vision is 100% human), and unleash the capabilities of employees.
How will the world change? Well yes, some jobs may cease to exist, but others will be created. Again to make an analogy to the digital revolution think about roles such as digital marketers, social media experts and bloggers or content creators, all of these did not exist before the digital age. So the possibilities are endless?
Our jobs as humans, leaders and HR experts will be to make sure we are developing, learning and upskilling ourselves and our employees to adapt to the new world of work. Become ever curious about the future, and how we can contribute to it, enhance those skills that make us uniquely human and learn how to develop them in others.
