Artificial Intelligence Creates Exciting Job Opportunities

Michelle P. Viewed 1402 Times Viewed by 847 People

The lack of skilled IT workers is hurting the deployment of emerging technology, according to a new survey from Gartner. In areas from cloud to cybersecurity, this crisis is expected to last for years to come.

Based on predictions and forecasts, the answer is a resounding yes – but yes to job losses not necessarily to press the panic button.

A study done by Oxford University found that 47% of jobs in US today were vulnerable to computerization and some to automation. Take for instance, self-driving cars – this technology can take over an entire industry of trucking. Almost 3.5M drivers could lose their jobs.

3.5M job losses presents a frightening scenario and a cause for widespread panic. When considered in isolation it is indeed a very depressing prospect. But consider the fact of job losses that happen on a regular basis in US – thousands of people or close to 3M get laid off every two months and several thousands quit working. If these numbers are added then 3.5M job losses may pale in comparison to the total losses in a year. Nevertheless, it will be a major impact to trucking industry and livelihoods of drivers..

That is not the only industry to suffer job losses. Most routine type of jobs– assembly lines in factories, other routine jobs in manufacturing companies, payroll, jobs that are repetitive in nature will be eliminated across industries by the invasion of AI.

The brighter side is that recent economic data shows that despite continuing advancement in AI and other technologies, demand for labor continues to grow as well. For past consecutive eighty months size of the total US workforce has increased. Unemployment rate is at 4.3% - lowest rate in several decades.

Nonetheless, advancing technologies and associated elimination of thousands of jobs is definitely a matter of concern. Even the new opportunities that are being created are in the middle-income category with stagnant incomes. Most jobs have been added in the service sector where automation may not be as effective. Though thousands of job are created and employment opportunities are available, the workforce laid off from another industry sector is not open to accepting careers in the service sector. This mis-match results in higher unemployment for certain groups.

Second reason for joblessness is that people have stopped looking for work. More than 16% of men between 25 and 54 years of age with a high school education or less had quit working completely by 2014, according to a 2016 study done by the White House.

Advances in technology have impacted US economy no doubt and AI is set to change it even faster. Yet it will not take over all human work in the near future. In fact, it may be time to look forward to totally different and interesting career opportunities fueled by artificial intelligence and technological advances.

New Opportunities for IT Professionals

Accenture’s global study finds that new categories of human jobs are already emerging that require skill-sets not seen today. Their research shows three new categories of AI-driven technology and business jobs, namely trainers, explainers, and sustainers. These professionals will ensure that work done by robots or machines is effective, auditable and transparent.

New categories will open up opportunities for displaced workers or those who aspired to change careers. What will these professional do:

Trainers

This category is emerging fast. Human workers are and will be required to teach AI systems how they should perform. They teach artificial intelligence algorithms how to mimic human behaviors and also help language translators and natural-language processors make fewer errors.

A good example is that of Customer service chatbots – their role is to communicate with humans hence the have to be trained to detect subtleties and complexities of human communication. Yahoo trainers are attempting to teach its language processing system that people do not always literally mean what they say. Yahoo engineers have developed an algorithm that can identify sarcasm on websites and social media with almost 80% accuracy.

Then there are those that will teach AI systems to show compassion. The New York-based startup Kemoko Inc. has developed a machine-learning system that can help digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri address people’s questions with sympathy and understanding.

In future, if individuals are frustrated because their internet service gets dropped on a regular basis or because luggage was lost or because their favorite team did not win, will have a sympathetic digital friend who will be compassionate, humorous and very understanding. 

How is that possible? Humans will be required to program and train these robots. This will be a very interesting opportunity for tech professionals.

Explainers

Explainers will bridge the gap between business leaders and technologists and. Explainers will help provide clarity, which is becoming all the more important as AI systems’ opaqueness increases. To deploy advanced AI systems, companies will need professionals who will be able to explain inner workings of complex algorithms to nontechnical professionals.

Certain types of algorithms, like machine-learning bots are more complicated. Others like decision trees, are relatively simpler to explain.

A new breed of professionals called algorithm forensics analyst will be in high demand. They will be responsible to ensure correct results are obtained; they will monitor and be responsible for holding algorithms accountable for its results. If incorrect results are obtained they will have to perform autopsies on the event and correct it. The forensics analysts will need to be trained and acquire skills that will help them conduct detailed autopsies and explain the results.

With data obtained by techniques like Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), the forensics analyst will be a good position to pinpoint the cause or data that led to a particular result.

As an example, the analyst can help understand why a marketing campaign targeted only a certain set of consumers or why an AI-driven manufacturing process was halted or if an automated recruiting system has identified the best candidate for a certain position, the analyst using LIME could identify the variables (such as expertise in a particular narrow field or education) that led to that conclusion as well as the evidence against it (such as inadequate experience in a subject, or lack of communication skills or no experience in collaborative teamwork). Using such techniques, the forensics analyst can explain why someone was hired or passed over for promotion.

Sustainers

Sustainers — will help ensure that AI systems are operating as designed and that unintended consequences are addressed with the appropriate urgency.

One of the most important functions will be the ethics compliance manager. Individuals in this role will act as regulator and watchdog for upholding morals and norms of human values. An example will help understand this role. If AI driven system for credit approval was discriminating against people in certain geographic areas or professions then the ethics compliance manager will have to work with an algorithm forensics analyst to discover the underlying reasons for such results and then apply appropriate fixes.

Artificial Intelligence will certainly eliminate thousands of jobs but will also create very interesting new jobs that will require technical skills, soft skills along with other newer types of skills. Innovation in technology has much to offer and much to look forward to for tech professionals.

An exciting future driven by AI awaits everyone.

Share your comments on this Article:(0)