Artificial intelligence technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution are both replacing jobs and creating new ones. The use of artificial intelligence maximizes efficiency and convenience, but it also has a double-edged sword: it eliminates jobs and creates new ones, requiring us to adapt to the future of work.
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution progresses, AI is becoming more and more involved in our lives. Just by looking at the advertisements on television, we can already see the AI speaker “Genie,” self-driving cars, voice-activated televisions and refrigerators. New ways of living, such as smart home systems, are also becoming possible thanks to AI. These technological advances are improving our quality of life while maximizing efficiency.
According to the United Nations Future Report 2045, many existing jobs, such as delivery drivers, journalists, and carpenters, will disappear as AI advances. Is it possible for AI to advance and create jobs at the same time?
To understand the relationship between AI and jobs, we need to understand the relationship between AI and companies. Companies create jobs. There are two aspects to the relationship between AI and companies. There are two aspects to the relationship between A.I. and companies: companies hiring A.I. and companies viewing A.I. as a product.
If A.I. replaces human labor, it will take over jobs that were previously held by humans. Big data-based AI can be used to take over research tasks, and voice recognition programs can be used to replace phone services for consumers. In fact, Microsoft’s voice-activated assistant Cortana and Amazon’s automated warehousing robot Kiva are already in use. These technologies are maximizing efficiency not only in consumer interactions, but also in logistics and inventory management.
In addition to these simple tasks, programs that predict the weather through chaotic equations, long-term exchange rate predictions, and stock price predictions have been developed and utilized based on AI. By replacing human tasks with A.I., companies can benefit from cost savings as there are few additional costs such as wages except for the initial installation cost. In addition, because A.I.’s information processing and calculation capabilities are superior to those of humans, it can increase the efficiency of work. For example, in the financial sector, AI is playing an important role in risk management and fraud detection, and in the healthcare sector, it is helping to increase diagnostic accuracy and improve patient management systems.
As such, companies have a lot to gain by replacing traditional jobs with AI. There’s no need to hire a human when you can have an AI that does a much better job for less money. If you look at it from the perspective of a company hiring AI, there will be fewer jobs.
If you look at it as a commodity, AI is influencing the way companies around the world develop. All the technologies that have been developed so far have been developed by pursuing the convenience of human life. Companies have developed technologies that respond to people’s desire for convenience, and they have been able to capitalize on it. A.I. has gone beyond making things easier and is now taking over. It is natural for companies to develop technologies related to AI. The top four companies in the Milward Brown’s World’s 100 largest companies report (Microsoft, General Motors, Coca-Cola, and China Mobile) all utilize AI or have or are researching AI-related technologies, and large consulting firms such as McKinsey are predicting that the AI market will grow at an increasing rate.
As companies focus on developing AI-powered technologies, new jobs will be created that didn’t exist before. For example, AlphaGo, an AI that uses deep learning, requires knowledge of neuroscience because deep learning mimics the brain’s learning ability, and computer science because AI is an IT-related technology. In addition, these fusion technologies are driving innovation in various fields such as healthcare, law, and education, which means the emergence of new industries and professions.
It’s true that as AI advances, existing jobs will become obsolete. We’re already seeing secretaries, fund managers, and phone agents being replaced by AI-powered programs. However, as AI advances, new jobs will be created. For example, AI ethicists, data scientists, roboticists, and many other new professions are emerging. As we live in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we should not only look for jobs that already exist, but also pay attention to new jobs that will be created with the skills needed in the changing society. These skills include creativity, problem-solving, and data analysis, which can be developed through new educational methods and continuous learning.
