Saving your job from artificial intelligence is no luxury – it’s a necessity.
Football coaches like to say the best defense is a good offense, which goes double for executives seeking to wall off their jobs from an AI takeover.
That’s for good reason.
AI has the potential to replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs by 2023, according to Goldman Sachs. Additionally, it could replace 25% of all workplace tasks in the US and Europe over the same period.
While AI may also lead to new jobs (think AI officer or customer sentiment analyzer, for example), savvy executives should look for ways to keep artificial intelligence from engaging in any job-stealing.
What self-preservation tips can management types deploy to keep their jobs AI-proof?
David Mallon, managing director at Deloitte Consulting, has some thoughts on the subject.
In a February 26 interview with AI Business, Mallon says career professionals must be creative in keeping AI out of the corner office – at least, job-wise.
“Since we are not going to outdo the algorithms (on tasks they can do for us), we should look for opportunities to upskill ourselves and our people in some of the AI tools of the trade, like prompt engineering,” Mallon told AI Business. “We need people who are curious, good at divergent thinking, and good at building and sustaining human relationships. … Once AI has transformed a particular job, what’s left over are what we call human capabilities. Others call them soft skills or power skills.”
Emphasizing Human Sustainability
Mallon tells his children to think about those things that are distinctly human when starting their careers.
“That means being able to tell a story, to find the connections between things, to ask the right questions … and building relationships,” he says. “We tend to value the things that take a lot of work to create. It should not be surprising that today there is an explosion of interest in things that artists (make), in luxury items for which there is a distinct human element in their creation.”
The idea, Mallon says, is to “gravitate to professions where there is a distinctly human element . . . be curious, be open. Find ways to stretch your imagination,” he advises.
Down the road, companies will face what Mallon calls “human sustainability.”
“79% of executives say that organizations are responsible for creating value for workers as human beings,” he notes. “That’s a big number. However, only 43% of workers feel their organizations have left them better off. Also, only 29% of companies or executives think they clearly understand how to go about this, and that’s the challenge.”
When organizations emphasize the “broader notions” of human sustainability, workplace outcomes will improve, and jobs will be safer and more enjoyable. “We believe that investing in human outcomes is an investment in business outcomes − and these are not mutually exclusive,” Mallon says.
Two decades from now, companies will rely on so-called GenAI natives to handle the grunt work for employees and management.
“We’ll be using these technologies to go farther, faster, and do better,” Mallon adds. “Maybe there’s more time to have a conversation and to be human. You’re going to see more and more examples of that.”
Brian O’Connell, a former Wall Street bond trader and best-selling author, is a prominent figure in the finance industry. With a substantial background as an ex-Wall Street trader, he has authored two best-selling books: ‘The 401k Millionaire’ and ‘CNBC’s Creating Wealth’, demonstrating his profound knowledge of finance and investing.
Brian is also a finance and business writer for esteemed national platforms and publications, including CNN, TheStreet.com, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and Fox News.
