The Incredible Disappearing Act of Skills By Brian Simpson
Forbes, the leading financial magazine, has reported on a survey by edX, an online education platform, of 800 executives and 800 employees in the US on the future of work. It was found that the majority surveyed believed that almost half of the skills in today’s workforce will not be relevant in 2025, just next year, due to rapid advances in AI, and that people are quite unprepared for the radical displacement which is now fast rushing up to bowl them off their employment feet. As well, within five years, those surveyed believe that 56 percent of entry-level worker jobs will fall to AI, and soon, any such jobs for humans will cease to exist. But it is not just workers who will face the cut due to AI, for they also believe that the role of executives will be partially, or completely reduced by AI as well.
It is one more piece of evidence of the growing social dislocation that AI is now bringing to the world, and the drive at present seems unstoppable since our culture is addicted to technology.
“Executives believe nearly half of the skills that exist in today’s workforce won’t be relevant just two years from now, thanks to artificial intelligence. And a lot of that includes their own skills. This startling proclamation came out of a recent survey of 800 executives and 800 employees released by edX, an online education platform.
The executives estimate that nearly half (49%) of the skills that exist in their workforce today won’t be relevant in 2025. The same number, 47%, believe their workforces are unprepared for the future workplace. Identifying skills shortages is not a surprising result to come out of an educational platform provider, but the short timespan is an eye-opener.
Executives in the survey estimate that within the next five years, their organizations will eliminate over half (56%) of entry-level knowledge worker roles because of AI. What’s more, 79% of executives predict that entry-level knowledge worker jobs will no longer exist as AI creates an entirely new suite of roles for employees entering the workforce. On top of that, 56% say their own roles will be “completely” or “partially” replaced by AI.
However, there are industry leaders who are skeptical of such heavy-handed doom-laden predictions. "In my view, the immediate impact of AI on career goals is likely to be minimal," says Richard Jefts, executive vice president and general manager at HCL Software. "While many companies claim to be leveraging AI, the reality is that most are still in the early stages of adoption.” Expect more of a longer-term impact on careers as AI matures, he says.
While AI will redirect jobs and career prospects, its impact on jobs and tasks is murky — it’s not a simple matter of swapping out tasks with AI and you’re done. "The challenging part is that it is very difficult to predict precisely where and when that redirection will occur,” says Frederico Braga, head of digital at Debiopharm. “Almost every professional whose day to day is somehow connected with a digital activity will need to re-adjust their career goals as they — and the people around them — will begin to see changes in their daily work-related activities and processes.”
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