A few weeks back, I read an article on CNBC about the threat Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have on white-collar jobs. The article states that we have been so focused on the threat to blue-collar jobs, we haven’t considered that managers, occupational therapists, even accountants and lawyers may be affected.
The dire predictions about artificial intelligence taking jobs have been around for years. It reminds me of an episode of The Twilight Zone from 1964.
In the story, the executive eventually finds he too is out of a job. It’s a cautionary tale of mankind being very clever while not very wise. It’s also a reminder if a leader thinks he or she can’t be replaced by the same technology, they are fooling themselves. So how do we keep ourselves from being victims of AI?
The article quotes Anima Anandkumar who proposes a solution we examine if our jobs are repetitive or and involve a large amount of data that can be used to train AI systems. If so, she says to aim for jobs that require use creativity and human intuition.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean an entire career change. For instance, for lawyers and accountants, there are aspects of the job that require human interaction, collaboration, high-level strategy, and creativity. These will be more valuable in future.”
Anima Anandkumar High-paid, well-educated white collar workers will be heavily affected by AI, says new report
Focusing on creativity, human relationships and intuition in a career is the antidote. If any of us are doing repetitive tasks, let’s consider how we can allow bots and computers to do the boring work, and free us up to dream, imagine and work with our fellow humans. A little compassion and wisdom is the key.
