AI – Rule Changer of the Future's Here

The future is going to be right out of the fantasy sci-fi that you grew up reading. Why? Because with the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at workplace the basic manual jobs will most likely become redundant.

Not just that, even traditional trades are going to be taken over if they rely too much on data and analytics. In time perhaps creative ones that need twisted thinking could also go.

Age of Computers

Imagine your child reporting to a robot CEO 20 or 30 years down the line. Sounds like Doomsday Prophecy? It’s actually as real as the bitter cup of coffee that wakes you up every morning.  

Remember the scare when computers invaded offices in the 90s and mountains of files started gathering dust in the corners? Those who were unable to pick up ‘computer’ were shown the door or had to go through the indignation of learning ‘how to type’ at computer training schools. Only it was much more than typing.

The youngsters who came straight out of college took over and the old school, straight-backed wooden chairs were thrown out for recycling. Most people thought job markets will take a plunge but, it turned out differently. With the help of computers and human intelligence innovations were churned out every day. New jobs happened because new businesses came up. Jobs that were difficult to explain to traditionalists came and people quickly adapted to the new demands and grabbed them with both hands.

Birth of eLearning

With the new age jobs came the need for training. The elearning market took off like a kite that refused to come down as companies shifted every task on computer.

Soon, words like simulations, decision tree and enterprise learning became jargons that we threw at each other at the speed of light. At first reluctant of taking elearning as a serious training tool, most organizations soon changed stance when faced with the daunting task of retraining their existing staff that held so much collective knowledge plus brand loyalty. But, putting everyone into a training room to upgrade would brought production on its knees for days. Elearning turned out to be the only way to close the skill gap and not lose production time.

So, Subject Matter Experts who had all the knowledge in their heads were searched within the company, found and aligned with learning development organizations to help create a single platform of learning for both the new and the existing staff. Everyone was happy and productivity shot through the roof.

Rise and Rise of AI

But, for the last few years as we were getting cozy with Siri in our phones and starting to rely more and more on her for decision-making, AI crept into our computerized, file-free offices. It was faster than people had anticipated but, not altogether a surprise because everyone was already using various apps on their smart and savvy phones.

In the age of start-ups, many smart and young men and women realizing the potential of the new unicorn, started experimenting with AI and getting results. They found godfathers in technological giants who had ridden the computer wave successfully.

Microsoft announced publicly that it will be nurturing AI startups and Apple was a pioneer always thanks to its progressive thinking and future-predictive founder, Steve Jobs.  

Keeping Jobs in the Times of AI

As learning development experts we need to up our game. There is no time to sit and wait. Why? Because there is no clear indication how organizations would integrate AI into their systems.

Like no one had predicted that a traditional job like law would go to an App. It was recently reported that JP Morgan had invested in an AI-based software that can read and correct legal documents thus saving them 400,000 lawyer hours! Imagine what happened to the army of lawyers on retainership with the company. 

They mostly became redundant because a much cheaper system that has analyzed and stored knowledge of all old contracts that JP Morgan had made for clients over several years. Lawyers would now be needed to come down once the draft is complete to give it a once over. All small tasks like tweaking language and changing names on the contracts that used to be billed by these individuals would not be required to be done by them anymore.

What Next?

So, if the corporate lawyers have no job what will they do?

Good question. How about learn a new skill that doesn’t so much need data analysis as creative or mental skill for example, a surgeon or a medical professional.

Sounds bizarre? That’s because it is. But, breathe easy because that was just a guess.

There is no knowing what would hit us in the future and we as learning professionals have to keep that in mind. Innovation and forward thinking are the only two skills that will set us apart.

Reinvent and Reengage

There is a popular adage, to beat the enemy, infiltrate the enemy’s camp. It’s time to do just that.

Learning professionals should start unlearning and re-engage with the new technology. If you want to experiment then, this is the time. Learn all you can about AI. Get familiar. Read, ask questions and understand how it works.

The knowledge you gather now, will help you become tomorrow’s leader. Because when AI invades office space and all the organizations will again be thinking of how to retrain their loyal staff, you would be able to guide them smoothly through the transition.

Clue: This transition will not be much different from the initial days of elearning and mobile learning when the machine that was supposed to eat up jobs became the host for retraining.

So, don’t wait. Get cracking!