Interactive Session: Organizations: Will AI Kill Jobs?
Case Study Questions
1. What are the various views on the impact of AI on jobs? What do you think will
happen in your country?
There are three views on what AI will do to jobs:
(a) Job killer: AI applications will become smart enough to perform most tasks,
will never get tired, and will never talk back. They will be ideal employees,
which is why they will gradually replace human employees completely and
leave everyone out of a job.
(b) Job changer: There will be a division of labor between human workers and
AI. AI applications will do simple, trivial, and boring tasks involving large
amounts of data, freeing their human colleagues to focus on complex and
challenging assignments. People and machines will complement each other.
(c) Job creator: Just like how the rise of the Internet has generated a huge
demand for expertise in web programming, website design, e-marketing, and
so on, AI will create new jobs. For example, AI initiatives needs teams of
experts to work out algorithms, write computer programs, feed materials for
training, fine-tune models, and fix them when they are out of order.
All three cases may exist in all countries. Countries which rely more on primary
(agriculture) and secondary (manufacturing) industries are more like to experience
case (a) in these industries. Countries which depend on tertiary (service) industries
are more likely to experience cases (b) and (c). All cases will lead to the same
consequences: education and (re-)training. In case (a), education and training will
help workers change jobs if AI applications evolve to perform their current job roles.
In case (b), the complicated jobs assigned to human workers may need advanced
knowledge to perform. In case (c), new occupations require new knowledge and skills
developed through education and training. Lifelong learning is the key to keep one
afloat in the job market and adaptable to the ever-changing world.
2. Some people think that AI does not kill jobs but transforms business models. Do
you agree? Why or why not?
AI will kill jobs and transform business models as well. An enterprise needs to review its
business processes and decide which will be done by AI and which by human employees
before introducing AI applications as to optimize man–machine cooperation for the best
results.
In some situations, a company may need to redefine its business rules, workflow, job
descriptions, and even organizational structure, in addition to reviewing the way it does
business, to maximize the results of AI initiatives. Companies may also need to create entirely
different roles for managing intelligent technologies. Therefore, AI transforms not only the
business model but also the ecosystem of the whole company.
3. How would AI potentially add more jobs than it eliminates?
AI has been widely employed by many industries, from banking, to education, to
marketing, to health-care, to perform a wide range of repetitive tasks, including
customer service, technical support, facial recognition, online search, online ad
targeting, and limited medical diagnoses. AI in the form of machine learning can be
used to increase the efficiency of business operations and management decision
making. Other technologies such as robots, big data, and cloud computing, AI is
expected to be the next big thing tht helps enterprises create value and reduce costs.
Many AI applications are designed to facilitate individuals in doing their jobs rather
than replacing them completely. Human-machine collaboration is expected to
generate optimal results.
