Decoding AI’s potential on people, technology, and the economy
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Artificial intelligence (AI) promises far more than just boosting efficiency – it unlocks growth opportunities for businesses brave enough to capitalize on their potential. While some leaders may be eyeing AI as a way to trim headcounts, forward-thinking leaders are taking a different path.
It’s a visionary mindset that embraces AI for development and growth rather than mere cost-cutting that will reshape economic outcomes and foster competitive dynamics across industries. AI’s potential will be realized in proactively upskilling workforces, redefining roles around creativity, and restructuring IT to spearhead an AI-augmented future of profitability.
Technological Development and Industry Transition
The 20th century witnessed significant transformation due to general purpose technologies (GPTs) including the telephone, car, and electricity and as Azhar (2021) points out, we are now on the edge of another transformative wave, with emerging technologies impacting computing, energy, biology, and manufacturing. In computing, AI leads the way with capabilities exceeding human performance in certain areas, and the pace of advancements continue to accelerate. AI is changing industries by automating processes, informing decision-making, and influencing the ways in which we work and consume products and services.
In energy, we continue to make advancements in solar, wind, and geothermal power. In biology, CRISPR gene-editing technology enables us to treat diseases and improve crop yields. With 3D printing, manufacturers can customize production processes and efficiently create complex objects. However, if 3D printing becomes more localized as predicted, it could disrupt global economies by reducing reliance on overseas production. As Azhar notes, “technological advances come with consequences” (2021) – while new technologies create new opportunities, they can also produce offsetting effects that reshape economic systems in significant ways (Johnson & Wetmore, 2021). Not only will technology reshape industries, but it will also change people’s lives and the structure of the workforce as we know it.
Artificial intelligence holds significant potential to impact society. On one hand, it could drive advancements in critical areas such as healthcare, sustainability, manufacturing, computing, biology, and the military. On the other hand, it also carries risks of worsening the digital divide, compromising privacy, and spreading misinformation that sows seeds of mistrust and ill will. Companies will be able to compete with one another on entirely new levels. It is anticipated that artificial intelligence will be as much of an economic revolution as a technological one (You’re out of Time to Wait and See on AI, 2023).
Reshaping the Workforce
The power of AI is transforming the world of work, including what jobs exist and how they will be done. As rightly stated by Azhar, “We are living through one of the greatest transitions in the history of work” (Azhar, 2021). The widening exponential gap is apparent—the skills needed are lacking and we have outdated norms and guidelines that regulate our work.
AI is not simply replacing human workers; it is changing how we work. Take rapid upskilling for example, at one company, new customer service agents were able to reach productivity levels that normally take six months to attain in only two months because they were supported by generative AI models that suggested responses for them based on summaries of a vast database of answers (You’re out of Time to Wait and See on AI, 2023).
As we know, AI’s power is in its ability to enhance human work and create more effective and efficient tasks, especially when its decision-making processes are transparent. This requires a shift in focus, preparing the workforce not just for potential job displacement, but for collaboration alongside intelligent machines (World Economic Forum, 2023).
Wealth and Poverty
There will be jobs displaced by AI and there will be jobs that are augmented by AI, and those in the latter could be considered in positions of privilege—they will be more efficient, productive, and valuable. In addition, many roles – including doctors, lawyers, and software engineers – will command salaries at a higher end of the scale and could be seen as leading toward growing inequality in society (Marr, 2024). Concerns about AI’s potential impact on the workforce are valid. With AI helping select workers achieve more, their value increases with their abilities leading other positions to potentially become less valuable and, in some cases, redundant.
Organizations need to assess how AI will impact operations and decide how they will adjust. Yes, the likelihood of workers being moved into alternate positions exists, but only as operations require it. Without a purposeful effort to upskill talent, many workers will simply be left behind. There is a risk that AI could lead to an increased concentration of wealth among the technologically skilled upper class, resembling the wealth disparities present in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley. Ultimately, it will be up to our leaders to decode AI’s potential and its impact on people, technology, and the economy.
Tuesday Strong is a workforce development practitioner and consultant. Her company, Strong Performance Management, LLC, is approved by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency as a provider of continuing education for licensed professional engineers. Learn more here.