The World Economic Forum (WEF) last week released its report on the “future of jobs in 2025”, the report indicated that artificial intelligence could create 170 million new jobs globally, and may eliminate 92 million jobs, leading to a net increase of 78 million jobs by 2030. According to the report, 50% of employers intend to adjust their business strategies in light of advancements in artificial intelligence Two-thirds of companies plan to hire staff with specialized skills in artificial intelligence, and 40% expect to reduce the workforce due to the ability of artificial intelligence to automate tasks,” the report added. The report was based on the analysis and study of data from 1000 companies employing 14 million workers globally. The World Economic Forum conducts this analysis every two years to help business leaders and workers make informed hiring decisions. Skills needed by 2030:
The new report indicates which skills will lead the labor market by 2030. The most demanded skills include: experience in the field of artificial intelligence and big data, networking, and cybersecurity. The forum also identified artificial intelligence as the biggest driver of new job creation among other modern technologies, with 86% of companies predicting that artificial intelligence will transform their operations by 2030. Jobs threatened by falling demand:
The report also identified job categories facing a significant decline, and the roles of Postal Service Employees and executive secretaries topped the list of declining jobs, as a result of multiple factors, most notably the adoption of artificial intelligence solutions to automate most of the processes performed by people working in those jobs. For the first time, graphic designers and legal secretaries appeared among the fastest declining categories, and the forum linked this to the expansion of generative AI capabilities in creative and administrative work. However, the Forum believes that the future of work environments will be shaped by human-AI cooperation and not by replacing humans with machines. The report shows that 77% of the companies surveyed will launch retraining programs for existing workers to help them collaborate with AI tools between 2025 and 2030. The impact of artificial intelligence on long-term jobs:
In 2023, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, noted that artificial intelligence may replace the work of the “average employee”, which means that many jobs can be automated in the future. His company is currently pursuing the development of general artificial intelligence (AGI) capable of performing multiple tasks with high efficiency, as well as the development of “superintelligence” that may exceed human mental abilities. To meet the employment challenges caused by these new technologies, Altman has advocated trying new solutions such as universal basic income (UBI), which can provide a fixed income for every citizen to offset job-related income, and has funded large experiments to study the impact of basic income in communities. This suggests that the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs in the long term may be alarming and may lead to an increase in unemployment rates as a result of the significant and accelerated development and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.