How AI and Automation Are Changing the Nature of Work

AI, Automation, digital platforms, and other innovations are changing the essential nature of work. AI and automation are transforming how businesses communicate with their consumers, and execute their internal processes, reinventing themselves in the way they operate. Understanding these shifts can help innovators, business leaders, and professionals march forward. According to PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploiting the AI Revolution, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This article looks at the top industries impacted by AI and how it’s changing the nature of the workforce these industries require.

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Manufacturing

Artificial intelligence and automation are the keys to future growth across industries, and the manufacturing sector is no exception to it. Manufacturers are using AI-backed analytics and data to reduce unplanned downtime, enhance efficiency, product quality, and the safety of employees.  The PwC research also suggests that around 45% of total economic gains by 2030 will be from product enhancements, stimulating consumer demand.

“People skills must evolve to meet the mandates of fluid, totally new, even unforeseen roles that machines cannot fulfill,” says Jeff Kavanaugh, Senior Partner at Infosys Consulting. AI can significantly enhance the quality and scale of work in the manufacturing industry by improving the capabilities of every manufacturing business function.  

• Predictive Maintenance

  AI helps in enhancing asset utilization, and productivity by predicting unplanned machine and equipment breakdown

• Production Enhancement

  With the help of AI engines, businesses can successfully identify underlying causes of yield losses and locate the detractors

• Quality Enhancement

  AI technologies need specialist skills and the automation that manufacturers have already adopted demand skilled workforce. For instance, Cobots, collaborative robots assist humans with complicated tasks. These technologies require humans to program them to perform complex jobs

The adoption of AI in the manufacturing industry should be seen as a positive development, and fruitful results can be achieved through training and re-skilling the existing workforce. AI and automation will allow humans to focus on activities that generate more value for their roles and the business. Working knowledge of the latest technologies used in manufacturing, combined with the hands-on expertise that the current workforce possesses, can position them at the forefront of the manufacturing industry transformation.

Retail

From the advent of Flippy, the robot hamburger chef, to Bingo Box, an entirely unmanned convenience store in China, and Amazon Go, the cashier-less supermarket, the use of robots and AI in the retail sector is growing at a rapid pace. According to IBM, 85% of retail and 79% of consumer products companies aim to use intelligent automation for supply chain planning by 2021. For example, the famous footwear, apparel, and equipment brand, Nike Inc., has designed a system where customers can create their designs and shoes and go out of the store wearing them. This new automated system uses augmented reality, object tracking and projection systems, and voice activation to completely transform the customer’s experience with the brand and its products.

Automation and AI are set to redesign the entire retail industry model and the broader value chain. This transition will result in the emergence of organizations with fewer layers and a better-skilled, and trusted workforce backed by real-time data and analytics. With a more well-rounded team and newer roles that are a hybrid between technology and business, organizations will have a much faster decision-making process. 

Real Estate

AI has already entered the real estate industry and is affecting a massive change to this $480 billion industry—from impacting the home search experience to predicting the marketing trends in the real-estate sector. 

• Smart Home Search Portals

  AI-enabled home search portals showcase recommended properties that meet customer preferences, personality traits, and requirements. These portals will support fewer, higher-quality properties that suit the needs of the customer better. Chatbots are helping resolve simple questions to help prospective customers find their next home. With AI and Machine Learning, Chatbots are becoming smarter by the day and will soon be able to answer complex search queries through both text and voice, proficiently. Now you can efficiently focus on contracts, answer telephones, and build customer relationships while AI automates much of the manual work.

• Enhancing the Buying Process

  AI can predict property market values by combining CRM and marketplace data. Robots may soon assist agents in offering a unique buying experience to the customers. Zenplace, a real-estate Startup, is already offering AI-based touring to its customers. AI is slated to play a vital role in enhancing the productivity of agents and offering customers with a user experience that is designed just for them.

Healthcare

Artificial Intelligence is already being used to diagnose and treat diseases. For example, IDx-DR is the first-ever autonomous AI system that instantly detects the condition. With the backing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide diagnostic support, it detects signs of diabetic retinopathy in ocular images and then uses an algorithm to create a binary diagnosis in minutes. AI can be extensively used in treating cardiovascular diseases, as well.

• Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) powered by artificial intelligence can restore neurological abilities of those who’ve suffered a trauma in the past.
• Artificial intelligence will build the next generation of radiology tools that are accurate and detailed enough to replace the need for tissue samples, experts say. The same will apply to pathological tests too.
• AI will help fill the shortages of trained healthcare providers, especially in the underdeveloped regions.

The presence of AI will assist medical professionals in diagnosing illnesses faster and, using the data collected from AI algorithms, work on finding better solutions. Therefore, it becomes essential for healthcare providers/radiologists/pathologists to learn and implement these technologies. 

Opportunities Galore - What’s Your Next Step?

Businesses across industries are investing and banking heavily on AI and related technologies. Large firms are shifting focus to developing AI capabilities and changing business strategy accordingly.

(Source: tractica)

With new opportunities and company growth paths, new roles are being created in every area of business operations. Here are some of the most sought-after AI roles:

• AI/Machine Learning Researcher - Responsible for improving machine learning algorithms 
• AI Software Development, Program Management, and Testing - Developing systems and infrastructure that can use machine learning to derive critical business insights
• Data Mining and Analysis - Performing in-depth investigation of huge data sources, often creating and training systems to recognize patterns that will be critical to business decisions
• Machine Learning Applications - Responsible for applying machine learning or AI framework to a wide range of business problems, like ad analysis, fraud detection and gesture recognition  

(Source: weforum)

To find out which skills have the highest value, and which job roles fit you the best, analyze how your organization is changing, what are the demands from your current role. Keep an eye out for new opportunities that are coming up in your organization. When you connect these dots, you will find that AI, automation, and machine learning are at the core of all new and in-demand opportunities. A recent study from career and hiring data firm, Paysa indicates that 35% percent of the AI roles need a Ph.D., and another 26% require that candidates possess a master’s degree. Industry-specific certifications will help convince prospective employers that you have the right skills and expertise for a job and make you an in-demand professional. 

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