Prompt: Imagine that you have the task of preparing tomorrow’s workers for a retraining program.
- What would be the top five skills that you would have workers develop and why?How would you implement your training program?
Q1: What would be the top five skills that you would have workers develop and why? I believe we must reflect and consider what it means to be human. We must begin to identify how humans are different from AI and then strengthen the components that are uniquely human. In my research for this post, I discovered the following quote, which I feel is pertinent in guiding our future: “The value of AI might come not so much in making machines that act like humans, but stopping humans acting like machines (du Sautoy, 2019, p. 3).”While there are multiple skills that should be reevaluated in the Age of AI, the five skills I have selected include a mix of humanistic skills and technical skills.
- Interprofessional Skills – Huang et al. (2019) identify that managers need to adopt a “Feeling Economy” in the age of AI. The term Feeling Economy is when workers gravitate toward more humanistic traits such as empathy and interpersonal communication skills. AI can perform analytical and repetitive tasks that can potentially replace the mundane tasks completed today by many human workers. An important skill that should be taught or strengthened is interpersonal communication. Knapp & Daly (2011) describe interpersonal communication to include emotions and conflict, as well as social support, networks, and influence. As humans rely more on artificial intelligence, loneliness and isolation could increase. Thus, building skills related to interpersonal communication will be pertinent for humans to strengthen in the future. The humanistic aspects of our innate nature will become increasingly important, as these uniquely-human qualities cannot be effectively replicated by AI. As customer service jobs are being replaced by automated attendants and retail jobs are being replaced by automated checkouts, the humanistic connection of a Feeling Economy can allow retail workers to focus more on improving the customer experience.Robotics – Amazon acquired the robotics company, Kiva, in 2012 for $775 million, a 300% premium over a private valuation (Putz, 2018). Clearly, Amazon could see the future of robotics, AI, and the demise of the human labor workforce. Mims (2022) notes that while it is not the published narrative, “one of Amazon’s long-term solutions to issues with workforce management like unionization and burnout is robots that can make the roles that many of these workers now occupy obsolete (p. 5).” Yet, an article written by Amazon Staff boasts that along with the automation changes over 700 new categories of jobs were created (Staff, 2022). These are jobs related to engineering, mechanics, data scientists, and software development and it is these new jobs that we should be training.Relationship Management – Similar to interprofessional skills, relationship management is focused on building relationships with others. When considering healthcare, the skill of relationship management can allow humans to deal with complex patient care scenarios and increase trust in their relationships with patients and their families. Trust between a patient and their provider is a key factor in healthcare delivery. Data collected suggest that trust “among patients with chronic illness, is built over time and involves an intricate process of collaboration (Bova et al., 2006, p. 482).” Research suggests that trust is built on knowledge sharing, professional connection, respect, honesty, and partnership. Workers of the future will need to build their relationship skills to increase trust in not just healthcare, but in all fields.Creativity – It can be argued that perhaps there will be an Artist Revolution as a result of the current generative AI movement. AI can impressively mimic art such as paintings, photography, videography, songs, etc., but it cannot be original. Originality, for now, is truly human. Du Sautoy (2019) argues that for AI to be considered creative, it must process “originality of a truly independent nature (du Satoy, 2019, p. 2).”Adaptability – At the end of the day, we must learn to adapt to our new surroundings and changing future. The ability to adapt to new situations, learn new skills, and embrace change is vital in a rapidly evolving job market. Rather than fear AI, we must change our mindset to continually learn and continue to be curious. The future should be a world of harmony between humans and bots, where automation supports humanity (Davis, 2020).
References:Bova, C., Fennie, K. P., Watrous, E., Dieckhaus, K., & Williams, A. B. (2006). The Health Care Relationship (HCR) trust scale: Development and psychometric evaluation. Research in Nursing & Health, 29(5), 477–488. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.20158Davis, C. (2020). Workforce Adaptability in the Age of AI. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/ 10.13140/RG.2.2.16818.15042du Sautoy, M. (2019). Can ai ever be truly creative? New Scientist, 242(3229), 38–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0262-4079(19)30840-1Huang, M.-H., Rust, R., & Maksimovic, V. (2019). The feeling economy: Managing in the next generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). California Management Review, 61(4), 43–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125619863436Knapp, M. L., & Daly, J. A. (2011). The sage handbook of interpersonal communication. SAGE Publications.Mims, C. (2022, December 13). Amazon takes steps toward warehouse automation. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/story/amazon-takes-steps-toward-warehouse-automation-14b7131dPutz, A. (2018, March 17). M&A flashback: Amazon announces $775M kiva systems acquisition. PitchBook. https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/ma-flashback-amazon-announces-775m-kiva-systems-acquisitionStaff, A. (2022, November 10). Amazon introduces Sparrow-a state-of-the-art robot that handles millions of diverse products. US About Amazon. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/amazon-introduces-sparrow-a-state-of-the-art-robot-that-handles-millions-of-diverse-products Q2: How would you implement your training program?
To implement my training program I would focus on scaffolded micro-credentials that can be completed primarily online. Each micro-credential would build on the previous, adding new skills to each completed course. The micro-credential format is chosen so that individuals can spend as much or as little time as they have available; yet, rather than a lengthy degree plan where if one stops midway through they have nothing to show for it, the micro-credential will be skill-based and structured to be completed in shorter chunks of time. I would work with the local counties and cities to implement these retraining programs. And, while the primary format would be to complete these micro-credentials in an online environment, we must also keep in mind what it means to be human, and therefore connection and collaboration will be weaved into the curriculum.