Keeping the Future of Work Human

The last few centuries have seen the workplace transform several times — first by machinery during the Industrial Revolution, then by computers and the advent of the internet. Those changes may have felt sudden at the time, but they’ll seem gradual compared to the next few years, as artificial intelligence becomes more vital to workplaces. 

We’re living through the most rapid workplace changes in history, argue the AARP’s Debra Whitman and Heather McGowan, a future-of-work strategist, in a blog post published on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Forum. According to Whitman and McGowan, technology is transforming our jobs, from small tasks to the larger structure of companies. Business models, workforce hierarchies and job roles are all adapting in response.

Three distinct eras have driven the changing nature of work: The First Industrial Revolution, with the rise of the steam engine, lasted from about 1760 to 1830; the Second Industrial Revolution, marked by electrification and mass manufacturing, spanned the late-19th century to about 1914; and the Third Industrial Revolution, exemplified by computerization and the automation of manufacturing, began in the 1950s.

We’re quite possibly on the verge of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, one which revolves around algorithms, automation and, especially, AI.

What does AI do best? Because the technology is constantly changing, it’s hard to say. But so far AI has excelled at pattern recognition. With the ability to scan a huge amount of data faster than humans can, AI can recognize patterns in data that we might miss, and it can then use those patterns to make predictions. 

“AI will be as central to the white-collar office environment as robotics has been to the production economy,” Mark Muro, senior fellow and policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, told Axios. He added that it will “fundamentally change what work is and what humans do.” 

This isn’t limited to certain industries or job levels. A recent study by a Stanford University economist cross-referenced keywords in AI patents with keywords in job descriptions. His research predicts that many different tasks currently performed by humans — from operating power plants to diagnosing diseases — are vulnerable to being taken over by AI. The more information a worker processes, the more likely it is that an AI could do the same job better: Lab technicians, optometrists and chemical engineers were among the professions whose jobs were most exposed. 

Both old and young workers will be affected by this shift. As jobs become more technical, employer bias against older workers grows. At the same time, many of the jobs AI will eliminate are entry-level positions, making it harder for young workers to break into their chosen industries. Taken together, some experts predict a wave of automation that may eliminate 14.7 million jobs in coming years.

artificial intelligence

When AI integration is viewed this way, it can sound alarming. “With each technological leap forward, there is a parallel rise in fear that humanity will somehow be displaced,” wrote Google’s Ben Jones. But in the end, he argues, AI is only a tool: “There’s much more to be gained by embracing machine learning as an accelerant for our creative powers.” 

Tech analyst Benedict Evans envisions AI as being like an unlimited number of interns who can search through data for you — or just one intern who is very, very fast. 

AI can do the legwork, but the real creative thought still has to come from the human expert deploying it. So we’ll need to maximize creativity in our workers and teach them how to use AIs to further their own visions. 

As AARP’s Whitman and McGowan wrote, the workplace of the future will depend on “hard-to-codify abilities, traits and mind-sets like empathy, social and emotional intelligence, judgment, design mind-set, sense-making, collaboration and communication.”

Here’s an example of how human creativity and AI can work together: Not long ago, Wired magazine covered how AI is being used to “generate” novels, with the headline “Text-Savvy AI Is Here to Write Fiction.” 

It was the latest in a series of similar news stories. Every few years articles are published hinting that AI might replace human writers. “New AI Fake Text Generator May Be Too Dangerous To Release” declared a headline last year in The Guardian. 

But despite those sensational headlines, prose produced by an AI actually isn’t that good — and certainly not comparable to a human author’s. In fact, the writers profiled in the Wired article weren’t computers — they were human. By itself, reporter Gregory Barber wrote, AI “can’t write a novel; not even the semblance, if you’re thinking Austen or Franzen. It can barely get out a sentence before losing the thread.”

Instead, clever creatives are using AI as a supplemental tool to create work according to the parameters they choose. The AI is just a more sophisticated version of creativity constraint games used by writers as far back as the French Oulipo collective. It could be argued that an AI functions less like a creator and more like the simple “story cubes” — dice with random images printed on each side — that some people use for inspiration. 

One writer created a code to analyze the trickiest passages of Thomas Beckett’s novel “Watt” and generated a novel-length manuscript based on them (titled, naturally, “Megawatt”). Another instructed his AI intern to search for phrases from online dream diaries, which he repurposed for his novel. 

Some of these works couldn’t have been created without AI. But just as importantly, they couldn’t have been created without the conceptualization and impetus of a human mind.

There’s no reason why human workers can’t use AI in the same way; that is, to allow people access to work that’s more creative and interesting, and assign AI the repetitive, high-volume data-processing tasks that it can perform so easily. 

In order to keep work human — and to keep human jobs available — we’ll have to design educational systems that prize the kind of experience, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills only humans can bring to the job.


This article was produced in partnership with AARP. You can learn more here about how AARP is shaping the Future of Work.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the Future of Work

Artificial intelligence intersects with many aspects of our daily lives, from navigation apps to search algorithms, email filtering to online shopping, and more — but the technology is also beginning to shape the workplace of today and tomorrow. Its tremendous potential and its power to disrupt entire industries is becoming a critical issue in the modern office.
As AI’s capabilities continue to accelerate, the technology is increasingly being used to create new ways of working and altering the skill sets that tomorrow’s workers will need in order to thrive.
In a meeting with leaders in technology, business, academia and the nonprofit sector on this topic, Samsung NEXT and NationSwell explored how AI is impacting the workplace, which uncovered a number of key benefits ahead, as well as risks that may need mitigating.
Here are five key takeaways.

AI Is Restructuring Jobs and Roles

AI is transforming today’s workplace, serving to restructure some jobs while introducing others more highly in demand (e.g., data scientists). As AI is increasingly leveraged to perform work tasks that can be repetitive and monotonous, humans are freed up to perform an array of value-adding functions.
One key issue is how to blend the roles played by both humans and technology, enabling each to do what they do best. Human workers may need to develop new skills in order to take advantage of AI and accommodate its growing use in the workplace.

AI Solves Some Challenges Better Than Others

AI is better suited to solving some challenges than others — for instance, where large and complete data sets are available, where issues are well-defined or where ethical concerns are less critical.
However, as Jean Horstman, founder and former CEO of Interise, notes, “The evolution of AI is what Russ Ackoff called a ‘wicked mess’ — high human behavior and high dynamic system complexity. How is AI going to evolve to actually improve outcomes for all people, mitigating the unintended negative consequences that will arrive if both types of complexities aren’t addressed together?”
Robert Nagle, chief product officer and CTO of Interactions, believes that the future of work involves a careful blending of technology (like AI) and humans, allowing each to do what they do best. “The future isn’t so binary,” Nagle says. “We’re showing how to supplement AI with human intelligence. Each can complement the other, with both improving in our closed loop.”  

Hiring Is Hard, But AI Can Help

Some companies, such as Unilever, leverage AI to screen candidates early on in the hiring process, then arrange human interviews with the few remaining candidates. Using AI in these ways can help reduce the cost and time of hiring, a massive benefit for companies and workers alike.
Some participants expressed concerns around how using AI in hiring might hinder the promotion of fairness and inclusion. Much of that hinges on whether there’s enough of the “right” data available to “solve” the challenge of hiring the right person for the right job, especially when there may be potential bias hidden in the data sets.
Samsung AI

Better Data Means Better AI

More and better data can support the effective development and use of AI. But it’s important to examine what data goes into building algorithms. More and better data can support the effective development and use of AI. But it’s important to examine what and whose data goes into building algorithms. “Our unconscious biases can be built into the data [underlying AI systems],” Horstman says.
Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures, expresses special concern about one element of risk: “Our inherent gender biases are getting captured in these algorithms, while we should be promoting more diversity and inclusion.”
Shawn Bohen, chief transformative impact officer at Year Up, points to the use of college degrees as a screening criteria in hiring. Requiring a college degree may exclude highly capable talent who may actually have the requisite skills to succeed in today’s landscape of accelerating change, where the ongoing ability to learn is as important as what is learned.

We Need to View AI in a Multidisciplinary Way

Discussions involving actors from a variety of disciplines are key to optimizing the opportunities and mitigating some of the risks of artificial intelligence. And those who work on the technology can help with this process by more clearly communicating to a lay audience its potential impacts.
Ali Amarsy, co-founder and CSO of Gram Labs, says, “There’s a responsibility to have more transparency with data sets. Especially if the data sets are public, the algorithms [built using them] should also serve the public.”

Article produced in partnership with Samsung NEXT, Samsung’s innovation group that works with entrepreneurs to build, grow, and scale great ideas. NationSwell has partnered with Samsung NEXT to find and elevate some of the most promising innovators working to close the opportunity gap in America. Click here to meet the finalists.

Microsoft’s Secret Weapon

As a child growing up in a tiny town in the Midwest, Mary Snapp absorbed the importance of commitment to community from her parents. “Literally every night, my parents were out at some meeting, and my dad delivered Meals on Wheels to seniors,” she recalls. Today, as corporate vice president and the first head of Microsoft Philanthropies, Snapp leads the technology company’s corporate citizenship initiatives.
Recently, NationSwell founder and CEO Greg Behrman sat down with Snapp to discuss the importance of companies providing a structure of support for social good and volunteerism.
GB: What is one approach or guiding principle at Microsoft Philanthropies that differentiates you from others?
MS: Microsoft’s Giving Campaign started 30 years ago when co-founder Bill Gates’s mother, Mary, told him that it was important to build philanthropy into the fabric of the company. We commit to matching employees’ volunteer time hour-by-hour and donations dollar-for-dollar. Last year, employees raised $142 million for nearly 19,000 nonprofits and schools worldwide. The program really encourages creative volunteering, such as Hacks for Good, where employees come up with ways to reduce demands for sex trafficking to things related to weather forecasts and water conservation. It’s really, truly unique.
For the past three decades, Microsoft has also been committed to supporting education. We believed 30 years ago, and we still believe today, that it’s really important for young people, especially underserved populations and girls, to learn science, technology, engineering and math. Our Technical Education and Literacy in Schools initiative started with one engineer volunteering an hour of his time several days a week to teach computer science at an underserved school. After a couple of years, he had nine other engineers joining him. This year, Microsoft employees are in 350 schools in 30 states team-teaching computer science alongside a teacher.
GB: Do you think what you’re doing to engage employees around social good is having an impact on employee engagement and enthusiasm, and the culture at Microsoft?
MS: I only have purely anecdotal evidence, but I think it does. For example, I recently met with some senior level employees who told me that they came to Microsoft specifically because of the ability to volunteer. And I’ve had a number of conversations with our data science lead who told me that his employees are constantly being recruited by outside companies, but they choose to work at Microsoft because they want to do things that give them purpose.

As corporate vice president for Microsoft Philanthropies, Mary Snapp leads efforts to expand Microsoft’s social impact around the globe.

GB: As you look forward into the world of corporate responsibility and philanthropy, what’s next for you and Microsoft?
MS: Two years ago, at the World Economic Forum, there was a lot of talk about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the cloud. Last year, most of the discussion was on artificial intelligence and robots. We realized that we have an obligation to talk about digital skills and jobs for the future, but that we also need to urgently think about middle skills — jobs that are beyond a high school diploma, but don’t require a college degree — as well.
Fulfilling this middle skills area is coming at a pretty fast and broad clip. We believe that, as a big technology company, we have a particular responsibility to help ease the transition that’s coming with technology. We hope to work in urban and rural communities to build out technical skill programs so that as we move forward, technology does not leave people behind.
GB: What advice might you have for someone at the beginning of his or her career that aspires to lead business in the direction of sustainability and responsibility?
MS: Many young people have to overcome things that I didn’t, but it’s still possible for them to achieve their dreams. These dreams may change over time, but they need to have persistence and an interest in continuous learning. And I’d be sure to tell them that they’re going to make it, because they are.
 

Using AI as a Weapon Against Overfishing, A New Approach to Helping Homeless Addicts and More

 
How AI Can Help Keep Ocean Fisheries Sustainable, Fast Company
Overfishing is a huge threat to global ecosystems, but experts are taking a cue from Silicon Valley to find a solution. By mounting cameras on fishing boats and using the same facial recognition tech that Facebook uses to identify people in photos, scientists can classify different fish species and help root out illegal harvests.
A Sober Utopia, Pacific Standard
A new program in Colorado takes a radical approach to helping homeless addicts — giving them the freedom to rebuild their lives on their own terms. Housed in Fort Lyon (ironically, a former prison), the program is a mix of rehab, university and startup, with many residents pursuing creative interests and building businesses as they become sober.
Inside LAX’s New Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Unit, The Atlantic
With 75 million travelers passing through its terminals every year, LAX is one of the most vulnerable terrorist targets in the U.S. But the airport behemoth has built an intelligence team from the ground up with analytic capabilities that “rival the agencies of a small nation-state.” The team’s innovative approach to fighting terrorism could signal a larger shift in the way global infrastructure sites protect themselves — building their own intelligence units when “the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security [are] simply not good enough.”
Continue reading “Using AI as a Weapon Against Overfishing, A New Approach to Helping Homeless Addicts and More”

Artificial Intelligence Protects First Responders, How Birth Control Is Stopping the Spread of Disease and More

This NASA-Developed A.I. Could Help Save Firefighters’ Lives, Smithsonian Magazine
Disorienting scenes where a single move can be deadly is a common experience for both space rovers and firefighters. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built an artificial intelligence system for navigating unfamiliar landscapes, is sharing its technology with fire departments — warning first responders about hazards they might not notice in the smoke and flames.

Man v. Rat: Could the Long War Soon Be Over? The Guardian
A New York City subway rat carries a host of dangerous contagions, and its reproductive capacity — up to 15,000 offspring in a year — spread disease through city sewers and alleyways. A biotech startup in Flagstaff, Ariz., has developed a humane way to deal with Gotham’s infestation where rat poison has failed: birth control.
Generational Poverty: Trying to Solve Philly’s Most Enduring Problem, Philadelphia Magazine
Can Mattie McQueen, an unemployed 52-year-old raising three grandchildren in a largely unfurnished apartment, escape the destitution that’s dogged her ancestors since the postbellum years? One Philadelphia nonprofit is using what’s being called a “two- generation” model to assuage her financial stresses to make space for the children’s learning.
 

This Supercomputer Is Helping Vets Transition Back to Civilian Life

When many of us last heard about Watson, the artificially-intelligent computer that scientists at IBM programmed to understand and respond to questions asked in normal language, it was destroying Jeopardy! mega winners Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter on the famous quiz show, winning $1 million in prize money.
But Watson’s creators wondered if their machine could serve a higher purpose than embarrassing big-brained game show geeks, and now it will. Two weeks ago, IBM and USAA, the insurance company serving over 10 million military members, veterans and their families, announced that Watson’s brain power will be available online to all its members who are looking to transition out of the military and establish civilian careers. All they need to do is enter a query through Ask Watson on USAA’s homepage or mobile app.
Neff Hudson, USAA’s vice president of emerging channels, told Doug Henschen of Information Week, “More and more of the interactions that we’re getting from our members are coming through our digital channels, including our web and mobile sites, so we’re trying to make these channels as adept at delivering advice as a human being in our call center.”
Watson has been programmed to learn from each of its interactions, becoming more helpful at answering questions as it receives more input. Because transitioning from the military can elicit so many complicated questions — from what to do about health insurance, to how to craft a resume that will appeal to a civilian employer, to how to manage saving for retirement or the best way to fund an education — a wise guy like Watson is sure to be of assistance.
MORE: This Innovative Car Company Makes Employing Veterans Part of Its Mission