Study: Reskilling is inevitable as AI changes how we work

In this article they state

"Learning new skills is part of the fabric of today's technological advancement. Leaders need to make sure workers can adjust and know the reasoning behind it."

We talk to leaders often about continuous learning.?

Harvard Business Review published findings of a survey about how technology is changing what skills people need in the workplace — generative AI and big data are among the most desired skills.

Five major trends in reskilling

A research team at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard’s Digital Reskilling Lab and the BCG Henderson Institute conducted interviews with business leaders at about 40 organizations globally. They found five shifts in how training needs to be done today because of reskilling.

1. Reskilling is an imperative, not an option. It should be a response to new tasks or company-specific needs, not a way to “soften the blow of layoffs, assuage feelings of guilt about social responsibility and create a positive PR narrative,” the researchers wrote.
2. Reskilling needs to involve every leader and manager.
3. Reskilling is a change-management initiative, meaning it focuses on helping individuals and teams acclimate to a new skill or process.
4. Business leaders need to make the benefits of reskilling clear to employees.
5. Business leaders should consider government programs and industry coalitions.

For knowledge workers, “many of them may well discover that (generative) AI and other new technologies have so significantly altered the nature of what they do that in effect they’re working in completely new fields".

BCG Henderson Institute, a think tank branch of the Boston Consulting Group, found in the interviews they published in HBR that only 24% of companies directly link corporate strategy and reskilling efforts.

The World Economic Forum’s global Future of Jobs report released in April 2023, AI was a key driver behind jobs being changed. According to the report, “Artificial intelligence … is expected to be adopted by nearly 75% of surveyed companies and is expected to lead to high churn – with 50% of organizations expecting it to create job growth and 25% expecting it to create job losses.”

So why are companies banning AI?

"New BlackBerry research reveals that 75% of organizations worldwide are currently considering or implementing bans on ChatGPT and other generative AI applications in the workplace. The data is based on a BlackBerry survey of 2,000 IT decision-makers across the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia.?

The majority of those deploying or considering bans (61%) say the measures are intended to be long-term or permanent.?

Top Reasons Organizations Are Banning ChatGPT

Potential risk to data security and privacy is the biggest reason (67%) survey respondents cited for moving to block ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools. The next greatest concern (57%) is risk to corporate reputation. ?

Who Is Driving ChatGPT & Generative AI Bans?

Technical leadership within organizations?is at the forefront of pushing through these bans, according to survey results, with CEOs also playing a leading role in almost half of the organizations:

• CIO/CTO/CSO/IT (72%)
• CEO (48%)
• Legal Compliance (40%)
• CFO/Finance (36%)
• HR (32%)?

Also worth noting is that the overwhelming majority – over 80% – additionally voiced concerns that unsecured apps pose a cybersecurity threat to their corporate IT environment."