In less than 10 years most workplace tasks will be done by machines rather than you and me say the World Economic Forum in their latest AI job forecast.
The Future of Jobs 2018 report claims roughly 71% of tasks done by humans won't be by 2025. Roughly 29 percent of total hours worked in major industries today are machines. That calls for a rapid shift over the next 7 years and the report’s figures are extrapolated from human resource managers and corporate strategy experts surveys.
WEF predicts that in just 4 years, this ratio will begin to equalize (with 42 percent total hours accounted for by AI-geared robotics). But perhaps the report’s most staggering projection is that machine learning and digital automation will eliminate 75 million jobs by 2025.
However, as new industries emerge and technological access allows people to adopt never-before-heard-of professions, the WEF offers a hopeful alternative, predicting the creation of nearly 133 million new roles aided by the very technologies currently displacing many in our workforce.
Crystal balls: The report is thought-provoking and well put together. but it’s notoriously difficult to predict this kind of economic change. Estimates regarding the number of jobs that AI will destroy (or create) vary wildly.
Already, more than 57 million workers — nearly 36 percent of the U.S. workforce — freelance. And based on today’s workforce growth rates as assessed by 2017’s Freelancing in America report, the majority of America’s workforce will freelance by 2027. Advancements in connectivity, AI and data proliferation will free traditional professionals to provide the services we do best. Doctors supplemented by AI-driven diagnostics may take more advisory roles, teachers geared with personalized learning platforms will soon be freed to serve as mentors, and barriers to entry for entrepreneurs — regardless of socioeconomic background — will dramatically decline.
Leave a Reply