Jared Molko addresses the concern around AI and its impending impact and disruption of jobs.
He notes that anything that is repeatable can be automated, to illustrate the context of how AI will change employment.
He said that the longer-term impact is unknown, but that in the near-term, employment will likely be man working alongside machines for increased productivity.
Soft skills like empathy, communication and active listening will become even more important as people re-asses value.
Molko emphasizes that we will need to be perpetual learners in this new world.
We will need to develop resilience and responsiveness to manage the changes.
Having a specialist mindset has worked well when times are certain. But we now live in times of uncertainty and change.
What skills and knowledge is valuable for the 21st century?
We should be learning general, human skills, which are transferable to any type of job, particularly the 4 C’s:
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creativity
We need to be generalists and specialists. But we’ve focused on specialization in the industrial age.
What is needed in this new age will be resilience, flexibility and the ability to transfer skills, perhaps many times.
In brief, to adapt to an AI world, we need to become more adaptable.
Jared Molko is an ex-Googler who has worked across Africa, Europe and the Middle East, where he had a variety of roles. During his seven-year tenure, he completed a Masters Degree in Analytical Psychology. He’s now back in South Africa and focusing his attention on the intersection between psychology and technology, with the aim of improving mass job placement and skill development for entry-level workers. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.