AI Expected to Replace Nearly 10% of Jobs in 10 Years, Says Survey

New survey findings—released by Allegis Group, a provider of talent solutions—reveal mixed feelings about artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the future of work.

Survey participants see AI as something to be excited about (21%) and as both disrupting and enabling (17%), yet a low number of HR professionals indicate that AI is not being adopted fast enough (8%). Additional findings indicated that a low number (9%) believe AI will displace most jobs in 10 years.

These findings, coupled with insight on AI’s implications for tomorrow’s talent and workforce strategies, are available in a new research report, AI and the World of Work: Embracing the Promises and Realities. The report offers background on the development of AI, its major players, and its influence on workers and businesses.

“We’re still in the early stages of understanding how AI will displace old jobs and create new ones. Without question, tough, it will have a major impact on how companies compete for talent and get work done,” says Andy Hilger, President of Allegis Group—said in a press release. “Innovations in AI will become more and more integral to business success, impacting strategic priorities, technology adoption, and, maybe most important, the overall evolution of the workforce. Our industry, as well as the clients and talent with whom we partner, needs to understand the implications and have a plan to capitalize on what will be a disruptive force.”

HR Professionals Take Stock of AI

When asked to identify areas of talent management that will benefit from AI, top responses from HR professionals surveyed included training talent (26%), screening talent (24%), and workforce planning (22%).

Regarding the skill types most susceptible to automation, HR professionals pointed to data collection/processing (36%), predictable, physical work (27%), analytical/quantitative skills (23%), and customer services/administration (22%).

The top roadblocks to adoption include budgets needed to upgrade or maintain AI (32%), a lack of people to build or manage AI (26%), and training the AI (24%).

Overall, findings indicate AI will not replace the need for talent professionals; instead, it will change the nature of what they need to do to succeed. “When you speak with a person, you trust that she is listening to you, learning from you, and sharing with you out of some level of genuine interest,” says Tanya Axenson, Global Head of Human Resources for Allegis Group. “But will you fully trust a machine designed to calculate everything you say toward making a decision? Probably not. That’s why people will remain essential to the high-trust aspects of HR—closing deals, solving tough employee issues, building relationships and creating the organizational strategy.”

“A variety of AI niche solutions are emerging in the talent tech market,” says Rachel Russell, Head of Corporate Strategy for Allegis Group. “Competitive advantage will come from adopting the right set of solutions to automate, augment and enhance the experience.”

Additional trends regarding the adoption of AI that expand to the market as a whole include:

• Expect increased demand for AI skills:  While AI is taking on many skills formerly attributed to humans, new jobs will emerge. Likely candidates include AI ethicists to manage the risks and liabilities associated with AI, as well as transparency requirements. Needs will also emerge for AI trainers, and individuals to support data science, the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as capabilities related to modeling, computational intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience.
• Constraints will influence the pace of innovation: Machine learning-driven AI systems require human guidance and programming, and a shortage of skills to provide this guidance may hinder progress. Also, today’s AI systems require deep sets of data and information. While data is abundant, it is not always available in pools that can be used to support an AI application. Other constraints include cost, the need for buy-in and adoption, and regulation.
• New challenges will influence AI’s effectiveness: Can AI be prevented from exploiting vulnerabilities in existing data systems or stopped from acting on low-quality data? While these issues, coupled with the impact of failure, product liability, perpetual obsolescence, and malicious use are concerns, the research holds that most of these near-term issues will be solved or mitigated over time.

For those who lead and execute talent strategy, gaining an understanding of the forces of change is the first step in rising to the new demands of an AI-enabled workplace. To learn more, download the report here.

To learn more about what HR needs to do to prepare for an automated workplace, join Miriam Cherry of Saint Louis University School of Law, as she presents the breakout session—“Robots at Work: Preparing for the Rise of Automation and the Evolving Human Capital Experience”—at the 22nd annual Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS), being held at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, November 15-17. Click here to learn more, or to register today.