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Generative AI is already changing the way many of us work—and is poised to revolutionize some roles entirely.
One daring prediction is that greater than 92% of information and communications technology (ICT) jobs can be significantly or moderately transformed by AI.
The claim comes from the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, which released a comprehensive latest report:The Impact of Generative AI“The consortium was created in April by some of the world’s largest technology corporations—including Google, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Intel, Cisco, Accenture, Indeed and Eightfold AI—to address the challenge of the AI talent shortage.
“Generation AI has the potential to transform fundamental aspects of our daily lives,” said Ryan Oakes, global leader of the health and public services industry at Accent“We address the opportunities and challenges that workers will face as generative AI becomes more mainstream.”
The Seven ‘Families of Jobs’ That Will Be Most Disrupted
To gain a broad understanding of AI’s impact on the workforce, the consortium analyzed 47 specific ICT job roles across seven “job families.” These families included business and management; cybersecurity; data science; design and user experience; infrastructure and operations; software development; and testing and quality assurance.
Roles were rated as low, moderate, or high transformation. Moderate and high indicate that at least 50% of core skills can be affected by AI. Jobs were also analyzed by seniority level, with the consortium finding that 96% of entry-level roles and 84% of mid-level roles can be significantly affected by AI.
While AI will impact all jobs to some extent, the consortium predicts the biggest changes will come in business and management, design and user experience, and testing and quality assurance.
For example, in business and management, 62.5% of roles were identified as highly transformative, while 37.5% were identified as moderately transformative. In day-to-day work, AI can assist create product strategies, provide predictive analytics, develop reports, manage large-scale projects, and automate many processes.
Looking ahead, employees at all seniority levels will need to acquire skills in AI-driven competitive intelligence, AI integration strategies, machine learning (ML) skills, easy engineering, data science and visualization, and natural language processing (NLP), according to the consortium. Other increasingly necessary skills will include understanding the product development lifecycle, agile methodologies, process improvement, predictive analytics, data management, KPIs, and statistical models.
On the other hand, lower-level skills will include basic data evaluation, manual data cleansing and preparation, job scheduling, generating basic reports, record keeping, and KPI monitoring.
In the user experience and design family, 66.7% of roles are expected to be highly transformative, and 33.3% are moderately transformative. The consortium points out that AI can automate routine tasks, streamline workflows, facilitate data evaluation, and create “hyperpersonalization.”
Workers will need latest (and improved) skills in ML, easy engineering, proprietary AI design, Scikit, data evaluation and interpretation, product design, and even lean manufacturing, the consortium urges. Meanwhile, skills that are starting to fade include basic coding, hand-crafting, and research.
Lydia Logan, Vice President of Global Education and Workforce Development at IBMcommented on the overall report: “Now, those working in the ICT sector – from students to employees and employers – have data on which jobs will change, how they will change, and what individuals and employers can do to prepare for this change and remain competitive in a changing global job market.”
Changing skills requires quick motion from all parties
The consortium identified 10 increasingly necessary skills:
- AI Ethics and Responsible AI
- Artificial Intelligence Skills
- Fast engineering
- Large Language Model (LLM) Architecture
- Agile methodologies
- Data analytics
- ML
- Recovery Extended Generation (RAG)
- Tensor Flow
- Language Programming
On the other hand, the 10 technical skills that are predicted to decline in importance are:
- Basic programming and languages
- Content creation
- Data management
- Research information
- Documentation maintenance
- SQL
- Manual XML handling
- Hand Scripting Perl
- Integration software
- Manual Malware Analysis
The consortium emphasizes that corporations need to invest in AI training to promote competitiveness and innovation. This will help them attract and retain talent. At the same time, they need to consider worker training needs and feedback.
For their part, academic institutions should update their curricula to include AI technologies and offer concise certification programs, according to the consortium. They also needs to prioritize investing in work-based learning initiatives, flexible learning paths and collaboration with regional secondary education institutions.
The onus also falls on staff, who should “embrace lifelong learning to remain relevant,” the consortium advises. Those in work must proactively search out opportunities to retrain and upskill through employer programs, union-sponsored training, or online courses or certificates. And those just joining the workforce can make the most of internships, mentoring, and hands-on projects.
In the future, the consortium will explore public-private partnerships to contribute to an “AI skills taxonomy” that may define and map skills to roles and determine required competency levels, explained Francine Katsoudas, executive vp and chief people, policy and purpose officer at Cisco.
The consortium also plans to launch an AI Workforce Playbook, she said, that may help corporations of all sizes proactively reskill and upskill their workforces. It will draw on insights from stakeholders similar to unions, coalitions, academia, governments and, just as importantly, underserved communities.
Katsoudas added that the consortium will proceed to work with G7 governments on the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.
“AI is an unprecedented opportunity for technology to benefit humanity in every way,” she said. “We need to act with purpose to ensure that populations are not left behind.”