AI Democratization Part Four: Building the AI-Ready Workforce of the Future

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Elizabeth Mixson
03/24/2021

AI is already changing the way we work. How are you empowering employees to embrace new skill sets such as data science, machine learning and advanced analytics?
Equipping the workforce with an arsenal of digital skills is paramount to ensuring both the short-term success of AI implementations and the long-term success of the business
Knowledge workers are eager to evolve their skill sets and leading-edge companies are meeting this demand by creating in-house digital training academies
READ PART ONE: Are Citizen Developers the Key to Applied AI Success?
READ PART TWO: Data Governance as the Engine Powering AI Success
READ PART THREE: Enabling the Citizen AI Developer with Low-Code and Auto-ML

Is your workforce prepared for the AI Revolution? Though we tend to downplay them here, the fears many people have about being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) are not unfounded. Even automation enthusiasts McKinsey predicts that automation will replace upwards of 45 million U.S. workers by 2030.

On the flipside, while wide-spread applied AI adoption will decrease jobs in some areas, it will undoubtedly create new ones as well. In fact, the World Economic Forum estimates that 97 million new jobs will be created through AI by 2025. Other studies have found that companies that adopt robots also hire more workers. Though it’s hard to say whether this will apply to AI as well, if AI decreases overhead costs and increases productivity as promised, it’s certainly very possible it will indirectly increase headcount.

However, there is one caveat. What many experts fear is that while low-level and mid-level positions (which often involve more repetitive work and are therefore ripe for automation) are disappearing, the new ones being created require more high level skills and training. As a result, we could find ourselves in a nightmarish economic scenario where companies are significantly hindered by their inability to recruit and retain qualified digital talent at the highest levels, while millions of displaced workers are cut out of the workforce entirely.

To ensure both the short-term success of AI and the long-term success of the business, its paramount that organizations invest in upskilling employees with digital skill sets. Though how exactly this will look varies from company to company, leading-edge organizations are already implementing large-scale upskilling programs designed to cultivate next generation digital skill sets in employees while also helping workers to take ownership over their future career trajectory.

For example, Amazon has committed to spend $700 million on retraining to ensure that its employees have the skills they will need to thrive in an increasingly digital job market. The primary focus of this initiative is to equip workers in positions that are vulnerable to automation (i.e. fulfillment center workers, deliver drivers and non-technical corporate roles) with IT support and software engineering skills.

Another example of a company who has invested heavily in upskilling their talent is DBS Bank, a.k.a. “the world’s first digital bank.” As part of their routine training processes, DBS Bank seeks to equip every banker with seven digital skills: digital communications, digital business models, digital technologies, agility, a “journey-thinking” mindset, next generation understanding of risks/controls and data-driven thinking. In January 2021, it launched a new in-house digital training institute, DBS Future Tech Academy. The goal is to grow its technologically savvy workforce by strengthen 3 key areas- site reliability engineering, data processing and analytics, and application security.

Other organizations, such as Airbnb, Cisco and BNP Paribas have launched large scale data democratization and data literacy programs to cultivate data analytics skills in non-technical employees. The goal of these programs is to not to necessarily turn everyone into a data scientist, but build an army of “citizen analysts” who are comfortable making decisions and working with data.

Beating Change Resistance

Fear of the unknown and resistance to change can derail even the most well executed new technology rollout. However, if employees view new technologies such as AI as an opportunity for professional advancement and upskilling, they’ll be much more likely to embrace it.

In fact, according to recent research:

80% of knowledge workers feel comfortable in reskilling for a change in work role
78% of knowledge workers believe that using tech to automate tasks would improve their work life

However, upskilling is about more than just training workers to use or leverage a new tool. Corporate leaders also need to give immediate opportunities and incentives for people to apply what they’ve learned, so that knowledge turns into real-world skills that improve performance. In addition, employees need to understand how these new skills not only fit into their future career paths, but will enhance long-term career satisfaction.