The mark on LinkedIn which says you are open to work is quite profound because it also means that you are willing for change. Take this forward and you have the book Open to Work by the CEO and CEOO (chief economic opportunity officer) of LinkedIn which talks about how one should handle AI in this uncertain world. Yes, it is a challenge for sure just like how the steam engine was during the industrial revolution. But one has to work one’s way around it and use it to take care of the efficiency aspect, while we humans work where we are best — thinking.
Open to Work is a very relevant book in this age when there is a lot of apprehension about what AI will do considering that prime facie it looks like that all jobs are replaceable. But Roslansky and Raman, the authors of this book, argue that the future belongs to those who are willing to adapt and change. This is where they talk of the five Cs which require human beings that cannot be replicated by AI. The first is ‘curiosity’, where the mind is important. Any innovation, like say, even the lightbulb or vaccines, can use AI to physically create formulations. But to conceptualise it and understand how they work requires a human.
The second is ‘courage’ — to draw up strategies and make them work by implementing them. Here AI can throw up alternative strategies for a company. But to understand what can and will not work requires the human mind and hence here we as individuals need to equip ourselves to gain the requisite knowledge on interpreting these solutions in a real world context.
The third is ‘creativity’, where we need to think differently to find solutions to problems as this cannot be captured by algorithms. Any touchpoint with say a customer in a bank can have alternative solutions prescribed by AI. But it is the human interface of how one reacts and deals with the problem of a customer which defines service quality.
The fourth is ‘compassion’. Robotic surgeries are now picking up as they excel in precision. But there is need for compassion and the comfort of a doctor’s touch for a patient cannot be replicated by a robot. Last is ‘communications’, where AI can translate things for us. But to give meaning to the same requires human intervention and this is where the individual plays a role.
So, all this means that the regular routine jobs will be left for AI while we use our minds for non-routine and mundane stuff. Hence programming for a software can be taken care of by technology but making sure it fits with the requirements is a human’s job. Accounts can be compiled and put forward in a compact manner by AI but interpreting things for the management is a job for the human being.
Interestingly, the authors point out that AI is a bigger threat to white-collar rather than blue-collar workers. This is because a lot of what software professionals or accountants do can be done better by AI. But when it comes to construction for example, it is the human skill that is required. That’s why there is growing demand for vocational courses for skill building. We can’t say the same for data analysts or web designers. They point out that over 500 skills can be affected by AI, which can give one shivers.
The authors use the power of LinkedIn while writing this book as they analyse the profiles and views of over 1.3 billion users or members to draw these rather far-reaching conclusions. In fact, they call the thinking part of the human being as being entrepreneurial, which is what we should excel at. AI is a purely efficiency enhancer which gives space for the mind to function and innovate to come up with solutions.
The authors aver that AI can be likened with, say electricity, which is a general purpose technology that affects every corner of society. We have already been witness to the way in which digital technology transformed our lives in the last quarter century or so with the Internet spearheading change along with mobile and cloud services. Things have changed right from the way we conduct meetings to entertainment and now to translation which has given a lot of convenience to people across the world.
The authors are optimistic in general to the way in which society at large will respond to these challenges. They do believe that new skills are emerging and evolving and people are pivoting and adapting, which means that there is acceptance as people want to move ahead and not get left out. Industries are transforming and there is widespread restructuring going on to make this adaptation possible in a seamless manner. This is the good part of the story.
They draw an interesting analogy on adaptation here. Earlier careers were designed to climb a ladder that was structured. But now they say that one has to climb a wall and one can do it from any direction, and this is where the winners will emerge. In short, we cannot fight the future and cannot be like the Luddites during the industrial revolution who refused to accept the inevitable.
The authors divide all jobs into three buckets — tasks that AI can do on its own (routine data crunching and checking for errors), tasks that need collaboration between humans and AI (AI drives patterns and we decide what is suitable) and those which are meant for humans exclusively. The last is very important and is related to emotional intelligence which involves problem solving and ethical judgments among others, which only humans can do.
This is a must read for all those who are in the early or middle stages of their careers. Those who are in the last part have a choice to make when facing this reality and the logical thing is to adapt and get assimilated in the system.
Madan Sabnavis is chief economist, Bank of Baroda
Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI
Ryan Roslansky & Aneesh Raman
HarperCollins
Pp 288, Rs 799