The Future of Work with AI: Upskilling Your Workforce for the Age of Automation

• Artificial Intelligence

Authored by: Manish Kotwani and Anil Damodaran

AI technologies are changing the way we work, at scale. They’re reshaping processes, augmenting human capabilities, impacting business performance, and enhancing employee & customer experience.

The arrival of generative AI (GenAI) has further accelerated the avalanche of AI at work. By generating contextual content autonomously, mimicking human-like creativity and decision-making, and most importantly, allowing people to “converse” with technology, it has opened the floodgates of tech-driven opportunities to redefine work and influence labor market trends.

Here are just a few examples of AI use cases in the modern workplace:

• AI-Powered Sourcing Tools: These tools sift through vast numbers of online profiles to identify relevant candidates.
• Predicting Employee Engagement and Retention: AI algorithms analyze integrated employee behavior and performance metrics to forecast engagement and retention levels.
• Hyper-Personalized Training Interventions: AI tailors training content and interventions to individual employee needs.
• Bots Managing Queries: AI-powered bots handle customer and employee inquiries through real-time intelligent tools.
• Content Creation and Curation: AI assists in generating and organizing content quickly, saving time spent on research and writing.
• Enhanced Business Insights: AI contributes to sharper, and role and outcome-focused, business insights.
• Business Performance Forecasting: AI tools are used for forecasting business performance as well as driving predictive recommendations for proactive action.
• Reporting and Experience Enhancement Tools: AI enhances reporting processes and improves user experiences, leading to measurable returns on investment (ROI) and business outcomes.
• Intelligent Automation for Environmental Sustainability: AI-driven solutions support environmentally sustainable practices in the workplace.

Upskilling & Reskilling – Entering a Productive Partnership with AI

While AI and GenAI are projected to displace millions of jobs, they are expected to also create millions of new ones. Going by precedent, the introduction of personal computers was once seen as the biggest threat to displacing humans from their jobs but the advancement of technology and human evolution with time have only proven more merits than demerits of tech advancements. While AI is a disruptor, it will eventually catalyze new job creation. But, as economist Richard Baldwin said at a World Economic Forum’s Growth Summit, here’s the caveat for businesses and professionals: “AI won’t take your job. It’s somebody using AI that will take your job.”

Upskilling and reskilling are the only way to thrive in the age of AI.

Radiologists will need to learn to work with Computer Vision for faster disease detection. Surgeons will need to supervise robotic surgeries. Driverless cars will need advanced tech teams and customer support. Customer Service teams, supported by chatbots and smart IVR tools, will need to learn to use these tools to anticipate and resolve customer concerns faster and provide additional value to earn customer loyalty. Product and Marketing teams will need to use GenAI to deliver content at the pace and scale of business.

It’s not just AI but human-AI collaboration that will truly transform industries and organizational functions for large-scale positive outcomes. This reaffirms a critical need for continuous upskilling and reskilling in embracing technology fully to remain relevant and thrive.

Taking a Multidimensional Approach to Upskilling and Reskilling

The success of human-AI collaboration at work is going to require more than just skills.

Being future-ready will require a multi-dimensional approach to learning and organizational development that’s not just restricted to evolving technology platforms but factors that encompass multiple areas of development for the workforce to achieve wholesome future readiness. These include:

• Strong Techno-Functional capabilities with a thrust on AI skillsets such as Large Language Models/GenAI, Computer Vision, and Natural Language (NLP and NLG), as well as data science, data engineering, and others
• Business Acumen with an understanding of major growth drivers and customer requirements
• Consultative Problem-solving skills used with principles of hyper-personalization
• Communication & Collaboration skills, with emphasis on a humane approach
• Agency to go from a Change Management approach to being Change Catalysts
• AI and technology-tuned mindset while approaching any business process throughout its value chain

The pace of progress in Artificial Intelligence is incredibly fast and, ultimately, it is humans who will be the real magicians transforming work—provided they embrace AI with a mindset to improve the world of business and society by exploring the real power of AI.

Share