Generative - AI: More Jobs, New Roles... But Updated Education Needed At Every Age

As the knight in the picture, looks into the dawn of a new day. So the incorporation of generative AI into business processes is a journey that has already begun. As we move into this new era, it is important to recognize that jobs will actually increase, not disappear, but job roles will undoubtedly change.

TLDR: Simple ways for learning and development to stay relevant, even including Generative AI…??

1. Less need for memorization in exams, instead teach effective search and application of knowledge: We taught memorization because their were limited books in the library. Since Google/Baidu, 20+ years ago, on the need for any type memorization (plant biology, programming syntax, historical facts) became less important.?More important was to synthesize data into answers and actions.

2. Think Automation and digitize the customer experience(CX) and employee experience (EX): Whatever the task, if its done more than once, automate. Changing from download, edit, create and review… to just simply review and enhance is much more value added. This activity is the prerequisite to compete effectively, to use gaming/prediction companies need to see both sides of the chess board, and business is multi-dimensional chess!

3. … 2023 Introducing Generative AI… Move from “Write me a summary of XYZ” or "Code a tree search" to how would you use, train, develop Generative AI to produce a compelling summary and did "Generative AI create a working/efficient tree-search"

More Context

In the past, we had to type out a unique letter for every single customer. Now, with the help of computers, mail merge, and robotic process automation, the process has become much more efficient. In the 1990s, at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) we were already demonstrating the use of digital twins for manufacturing and fully automated accounting. In the 2000s, at Estee Lauder we were automating quarterly business reports with the help of computer-generated text based on financial performance. 20-30 years later many companies have yet to adopt robotic process automation on a wide scale! Now its called digital transformation. Whatever is called, capturing every step of the customer experience is a prerequisite to using AI at a company.

In 2012, companies that considered actionable intelligence gold, and data, the mine to work in, began using machine learning for prediction, but it was only effective for companies who had fully digitized their customer journey and tracked the actions/reactions of their competitors. Many companies failed to fully consider the importance of a wide dataset and the role of tracking competitor moves in predicting consumer behavior. They jumped into machine learning in 2016+ with limited success. AlphaGO demonstrated the importance of training a machine learning model not only on the rules and its own moves, but also on the strategies and moves of the competition. Companies like Amazon and Google have been able to use machine learning and intelligent systems to achieve great success in customer lifetime value and mapping, respectively. Few have mined data for actionable intelligence as hard as they have.

Upgrading Learning & Development and Digital Transformation Needed

Now is the time for companies to evaluate their learning and development offerings, identify the skills they are lacking, and begin training their experienced employees in the new capabilities being used by the most successful companies. Employees who graduated 20 years ago are still young and have 25-30 more years of work ahead of them (if 70+ is retirement). If companies do not take the lead in this change, their employees may see their roles evolve significantly before the end of their careers, leading to frustration and limited options at a financially challenging time in life (kids in college and elderly with more needs).

Key steps to stay competitive in the age of generative AI:

1. Focusing on effective search rather than memorization
2. Digitizing the customer and employee experience
3. Adopting a data-driven approach to decision-making
4. Investing in continuous learning and development for employees
5. Embracing automation and exploring new technologies like generative AI.

By taking these steps, companies can not only keep up with the rapid pace of change, but also position themselves as leaders in their industry.

Article reviewed and lightly edited by AI.