AI: How AI’s Impact on Business is Shaping the Future of Work

While we live in a world that is currently fraught with contention, there’s little argument on at least one point: We are experiencing an AI (Artificial Intelligence) revolution.

As WSJ reports, tech companies are funneling hundreds of billions of dollars into AI, to the tune of more than $52.9 billion in the most recent quarter. Venture Capitalists have invested $64.1 billion so far in 2024, with nearly a third going to AI companies.

Conversely, traditional jobs are disappearing. Technology jobs, in particular, are in the midst of a worldwide reset. AI, automation and scarcer financing resources have produced mass layoffs and massively reduced the desire and need for traditional software developers. Labor roles are affected as well, as the costs for traditional employees and operations continues to rise. Robotics and automation are displacing the need for myriad roles traditionally held by labor workers and administrative staff across industries. The demand for writers and content developers has severely contracted as well, as AI becomes a de facto standard for creating, editing and publishing the material in minutes that was formerly written, edited, fact checked and disseminated by legions of traditional staff.

Will there be a shortage of jobs?

Interestingly, research shows that while AI is rapidly displacing millions of jobs, this does not eliminate the need or the number of roles for human employees. In fact, we are seeing the opposite. The World Economic Forum, in its Future of Jobs Report 2020, estimates that while AI will eliminate 85 million jobs by 2025, it will simultaneously create 97 million new jobs across 26 countries.

However, fewer of these new roles will be based in physical labor. Many more of the new roles will require knowledge workers. AI, among the myriad changes it brings, is producing new jobs and creating many new kinds of work. These new roles will be more fully integrated with automated processes and will bring forward the need for employees who can integrate and administrate automated and AI-driven resources. As knowledge-based jobs, they will command higher wages than the current roles they’re displacing. This is tremendously positive news.

But the new roles will require adjustments and learning curves. The message in the transition is this: As Forbes has reported, the future of job security in every industry is flexibility and upskilling. The foundational key to leveraging and thriving in this rapid transition comes down to a single, critical need: Education.

Education is the critical key

The path to career and business success at every level, from entry level to manager to leader to entrepreneur is to gain the new skills and expertise required to thrive in the AI-driven universe. Many current workers and many organizations are scrambling to meet this need through workshops and courses on how to work with AI. The demand is sky high, and the programs are endless that are attempting to come forward to answer these needs.

But much more is required. The time is right and the need has never been higher for full and accredited degree programs to educate the next era of knowledge workers to lead out in understanding how to leverage and truly magnify the power of AI.

In the U.S., a small but growing number of universities are starting to offer associate, bachelor’s and even master’s degrees in artificial intelligence. Given the newness of this space, many of the students wishing to prepare for a career in AI are being guided to computer science and data science degrees that can offer an emphasis in AI. Others are aiming toward mathematics, statistics and engineering degrees as the closest available alternatives.

Multiple leading universities are offering certificate programs in AI, to prepare their students as well they’re able to make the transition to AI-focused roles as quickly as possible.

New and Student-Focused Degree Alternatives

In an emerging and notable case, a U.S.-based organization, SarasAI Institute, has created fully online comprehensive accredited AI 2-year and 4-year degree programs that according to the company’s materials will successfully put its graduates in the top 1 percent of employees prepared to fully leverage the opportunity for AI careers.

Why is this so valuable? In the current realm of workers and students rushing to become qualified as AI generalists, these graduates come forward as bona fide AI specialists.

They become the top candidates for the new field of careers in which their salaries are more than 40 percent higher than the salaries in IT. They join a field in which the average salary for an AI/ML (machine learning) engineer is $150,000 and up. They become top candidates for the 97 million new jobs being created by AI by 2020 and become a key part of the $15.7 trillion contribution AI will make to the global economy by 2030.

According to an Oct. 28 press release from Saras AI, the organization is building the most student-centric educational institution on the planet, driven by three core pillars:

• Curriculum: A Role-based AI & Human Skills curriculum equips students with the skills and knowledge to thrive in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
• Community: Saras AI fosters a diverse, global & inclusive community promoting cultural understanding and collaboration.
• Success Coaching: Saras AI provides personalized, holistic success coaching to guide students through their academic journey and professional development. Its coaches offer tailored support, helping students achieve their academic goals, navigate the evolving AI landscape and secure fulfilling careers.

No matter how we dice it, the field of AI will play a vital role in our future. Increasingly, it will also create a significant opportunity for our future careers. Now is the time to prepare.

Cheryl Conner is an expert in business and communications. As disclosure, her organization, SnappConner PR, has a consulting relationship with several organizations in the AI sectxor including Saras AI.