Stephane Kasriel, Chairman of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Education, Gender and Work, focused on this topic in an interesting article on the WEF website.
He formulated six principles of future work development which we should prepare for so that the 4th Industrial Revolution doesn't bring new work to just a handful of people, but to all of us. In today's article we will introduce the first three.
1. It will be a major change
The old ways of work will be replaced and people will have to retrain. This can lead to social unrest and a significant increase in inequality between different geographical areas and groups of people.
That's why we have to prepare in advance. We should follow the development of new technologies - both generally and in our field - and learn as much as possible to have the necessary knowledge and skills.
2. Artificial intelligence will replace routine activities
Recent expert studies show that instead of entire jobs, new technologies will mostly replace repetitive activities that are easy to automate.
Artificial Intelligence will do part of our daily work, but most jobs won't be replaced by computers. We'll be able to focus more on solving problems that involve complex human relationships.
To prepare for this, we have to start looking at the artificial intelligence tools being applied in our field. Learn to use them to make your work more productive.
3. In particular, medium-skilled work will disappear
We definitely can't argue that the emergence of new technologies won't cause job losses. Medium and lower-skilled workers whose activities can be done better by machines will be affected the most.
These people need to be retrained and acquire new professional skills, otherwise they'll be forced to work in unqualified positions. While interest in these positions will grow, there won't be enough people to work in highly skilled jobs.
There's no other way than to provide people who lose their jobs to machines with the necessary education and the possibility of working in positions requiring more qualifications. That's the task of society as a whole.
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