The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2020 estimates that 85 million jobs could be “displaced” by AI before 2025. Whether you treat the technology with suspicion or embrace it wholeheartedly, one thing’s for certain: it’s here to stay.
“We do predict a change in many, if not most, jobs with the adoption of AI,” says Naeema Pasha, co-author of Futureproof Your Career. “We’ll see more of it at work. There’ll be more use of its facial-recognition capabilities, for instance, while conversation tools such as Amazon’s Alexa will move beyond our kitchens into our workplaces. We’ll use AI-based payment systems. As such, more and more roles that we might identify as ‘administrative’ will become AI-based.”
While such predictions may reinforce people’s fears that a soulless robotic workforce will render the human touch obsolete, the same World Economic Forum report also suggests that AI could contribute towards the creation of 97 million jobs.