The application of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is rapidly changing the dynamics of the workforce globally as more and more organizations in various industries adopt the automation technologies to enhance their productivity and cut on costs.

According to the World Economic Forum’s recent report, AI, and automation are expected to eliminate 85 million jobs globally by 2025 while generating 97 million new positions. This seismic shift is forcing companies to reconsider their workforce planning and are going all out to reskill and upskill their employees.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon are some of the leading companies in this AI revolution where they have included machine learning and natural language processing in their products and services. These advancements are not only improving current products and services but also developing new products and services and new business models.

For example, generative AI tools such as GPT-4 are being used in different industries including writing and customer support services thus increasing efficiency but at the same time creating unemployment. In the manufacturing industry, robotics and artificial intelligence are slowly replacing the workers in monotonous jobs thus enhancing the quality of production.

Automotive companies alone are spending billions of dollars in smart factories that apply artificial intelligence in quality control, predictive maintenance, and supply chain. Although this is increasing efficiency, it is also causing concerns on the role of manual labour in developed countries in the future.

The financial services industry is another industry that is going through a very fast change due to the integration of AI. Some of the areas where the application of AI is evident include; fraud detection and prevention in banks and insurance companies, risk management, and customer services. Robo-advisors are a new entrant in the wealth management industry, which is providing affordable investment services to a large number of investors. However, this shift is a challenge to the traditional financial advisors and other roles that might be at the risk of being automated.

It is not only the repetitive jobs that are being taken over by AI but other jobs as well. Advanced AI systems are now able to work at a cognitive level and can therefore undertake tasks that were previously the preserve of professionals like lawyers, doctors and accountants. This has raised questions on the future trends of employment and income distribution which has become a cause of worry.

To these challenges, governments and educational institutions are paying more attention to ensuring the workforce is ready for an AI future. Singapore and South Korea have established their national AI strategies where the education and training are among the key priorities. At the same time, the leading universities are redesigning their courses to introduce the concepts of AI and data science into different fields of study.

Firms are also doing everything they can to mitigate the effects of the skills gap brought about by the integration of AI. For instance, Amazon has committed to spending $700 million on training its employees in machine learning, robotics, and cloud computing among other areas. Likewise, IBM has its “New Collar” program that seeks to prepare the population for the new tech jobs despite the fact that they may not have a conventional academic background.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, there has been a lot of discussion on how policy measures should be developed in order to manage the effects of the AI on the society. Some of the proposed solutions include the provision of basic income for all citizens as a way of dealing with job loss due to AI while others have suggested that there is need to come up with better laws that will govern the development and use of AI.

The next few years will be critical in understanding how societies will respond to the changes that are being brought about by the integration of Artificial Intelligence in work. Despite the fact that the opportunities for enhanced effectiveness and creativity are vast, how to manage the process in a way that would be most advantageous for all the stakeholders is one of the most pressing issues for politicians, managers, and teachers.