{"id":352650,"date":"2025-01-10T11:19:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefexecutive.net\/?p=352650"},"modified":"2025-01-10T11:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:19:32","slug":"the-future-of-work-is-already-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefexecutive.net\/the-future-of-work-is-already-here\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future Of Work Is Already Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

Technological utopia notwithstanding, the threat of AI-fueled job loss has become an increasingly ominous\u2014and real\u2014risk to millions of Americans. Employers and workers alike need to launch an effort now to channel the coming AI job destruction wave into a long-run positive force for workers. It\u2019s achievable, but will require a modern-day Manhattan Project for retraining and redeploying our existing workforce.<\/p>\n

If we gloss over the AI threat, or fail to react to it, we\u2019re going to find ourselves with middle class unemployment and rising economic inequality. It could get ugly.<\/p>\n

The reality is that we\u2019ve only just begun to see what AI is capable of. We only have inklings of ideas of how AI can boost and transform our productivity. From where we stand right now, things aren\u2019t looking good for middle-skill workers.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0McKinsey Global Institute<\/a>\u00a0says up to 800 million jobs worldwide could be lost to AI, including a significant portion of front-line jobs in service, retail, and manufacturing industries. In the U.S. alone,\u00a045 million jobs could be wiped out by AI by 2030<\/a>. By comparison, during the Great Recession\u00a0an estimated 8.8 million Americans lost their jobs<\/a>; during the Great Depression,\u00a015 million<\/a>\u00a0Americans. By any measure, the AI job loss figures dwarf the modern world\u2019s previous experience.<\/p>\n

Optimists argue that while jobs will be destroyed by AI, it will also open new avenues of work we can\u2019t even imagine yet\u2014and that those jobs could be high-value and high-paying. Indeed, the World Economic Forum estimates there will be around 69 million new positions<\/a>\u00a0created worldwide as a result of AI advancement.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s still a staggering net loss of jobs\u2014to say nothing of the training, education and reallocation that will be required to prepare the workforce of today to take this next generation of jobs.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGreat Retraining\u201d is not something that will happen by itself. The world faces a significant risk of exacerbated inequality if dramatic, broad brush action isn\u2019t taken preemptively.<\/p>\n

Getting under the hood of the U.S. economy, what specific workers are at risk?<\/p>\n

There are roughly\u00a050 million<\/a> Americans working in frontline jobs\u2014about a third of the American workforce. Oftentimes, these are workers who have not gone to college<\/a>, and many have only finished part of their high school degree.<\/p>\n

Technological automation has been driving these workers out of the job for years, albeit at a slow pace. It\u2019s visible at airport restaurants and local McDonald\u2019s kiosks where orders are efficiently fulfilled with minimal human interaction.<\/p>\n

AI will take this to a higher level and at a faster pace, as white collar jobs face the same kind of pressure. White collar workers tend to be information processors and channelers. They assemble and analyze data, make decisions and communicate outcomes.<\/p>\n

These tasks are custom-made for generative AI.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one kind of economic impact to replace a $15-an-hour fast food counter worker; there\u2019s a more significant consequence when an inexpensive AI platform replaces a\u00a0$100,000-a-year middle manager<\/a>. The math of cutting that cost\u00a0 is more compelling to the employer, and the impact on families and communities will be devastating.<\/p>\n

Already, in the education and mentoring program I run at ENTITY Academy, we are observing individuals in middle management are among those having the\u00a0hardest time finding new employment once laid off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One former student told us that she was recently laid off from her tech job in Silicon Valley because her role wasn\u2019t directly contributing to advancing AI initiatives. As she told us, \u201cAI has shifted my focus from just picking up new tech skills to prioritizing deeper thinking and strategic analysis\u2014things I believe machines can\u2019t easily replace.\u00a0 Keeping up with technology remains important, but I now value my critical thinking and creative skills more.<\/p>\n

Another student from a Fortune 100 company told us that her job in marketing could soon be at risk. \u201cI see a possibility of AI taking over many functions of my role, so it\u2019s imperative that I stay adaptable and open to learning new skills AI cannot fully emulate, as well as learn to use AI as an asset.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that sort of rethinking, reprioritization and reorganization that\u2019s going to drive something akin to the Manhattan Project for the future of work. It\u2019s going to require multiple initiatives in both job creation and worker re-education. Below are a few ways we can get started now:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Catalyze growth in emerging sectors like healthcare, environmental management, recreational services that need growing workforces.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Create massive capacity for upskilling, retraining and continuing STEM education for workers. A company like Amazon shows the scale of need, as the tech giant has committed over $1 billion<\/a> to upskill their workforce.<\/p>\n

Consider a dramatic expansion of the social safety net for displaced workers beyond unemployment benefits. There may be no other choice. This would take the form of universal basic income (UBI).<\/p>\n

Policies that were once viewed as borderline outlandish, like UBI, will enter mainstream thinking. Massive economic transitions are never easy\u2014but if they are not lubricated and facilitated, they can cause large-scale social disruption.<\/p>\n

Legislators and employers need to prepare for AI job destruction but also prepare for the massive job creation wave that may follow.<\/p>\n

AI transformation has only just begun. Navigating the fallout and embracing the opportunities will be the challenge of this generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With AI’s job destruction tsunami headed toward global business, CEOs should waste no time leading the ‘Great Retraining.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31135,"featured_media":352651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[57295,2197,871,2130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-352650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence-ai","category-globalbusiness","category-leadershipmanagement","category-talentmanagement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe 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