From exploitation to irrelevance
AI and the Shift from Exploitation to Irrelevance of the WorkForce
Are you concerned about Artificial Intelligence (AI) replacing humans in most industries?
Do you worry about the long-term impact of products like ChatGPT?
If you plan to stay relevant and provide value in your job or business, these are all good questions. More broadly, you will have similar questions and concerns if you think about the future of your children or young generations in your community.
Often, the solution is to embrace and master new trends and innovations rather than fight reality. As American author Byron Katie beautifully stated:
When you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.
AI is expected to change how we spend our time at work
In 2023 the World Economic Forum shared new forecasts (Future of Jobs Report) on the impact of AI on the workforce:
“It estimates that 40% of all working hours could be impacted by large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT-4. “This is because language tasks account for 62% of employees’ total time”.
The flip side? It doesn’t mean machines will replace humans. Accenture says that 65% of our time on these “language tasks” can be “transformed into more productive activity through augmentation and automation.”
For the consulting firm Accenture, the potential for AI to reshape the world of work means companies and individuals need to start learning now to avoid being left behind. A big part of this will involve ensuring their staff are developing the new skills that will be required in the age of AI.
Yuval Noah Harari: from exploitation to Irrelevance
For several years professor of History and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari has extensively commented that the main struggle in the 21st century won’t be any more about the exploitation of individuals but about their irrelevance.
“In the 20th Century, a relatively small elite exploited masses of people. The masses felt exploited, but they were still very important. You could not run an economy without them. The main thing for workers was to translate economic power into political power.
They unionised went on strike and staged socialist revolutions. In the 21st century, the main struggle will be about irrelevance. Many people are pushed aside. The elite doesn’t exploit them. The elite doesn’t need them. Look at the Israeli economy; what is pushing it forward is 10 per cent of the workforce. Most of the people are not being exploited; they are just irrelevant.
It is much more difficult to fight against irrelevance than to fight against exploitation. The main problem is more psychological: “I am not important. I am humiliated” (Daily News).
I heard Harari discussing the shift from Exploitation to Irrelevance during a Penguin talk titled The Future of Education (video), where he strongly advocates individuals and decision-makers to prepare to cope with and overcome similar scenarios driven by automation and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Definitely, a strong motivational analysis.
Are you ready to embrace new opportunities, while staying ahead of the curve? More often than not,
the best way out is through (Robert Frost).
Keep it real. Invest in yourself: grow, innovate and Sweat Your Assets!
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