One of the big worries emerging from workers as a result of the rapid advancement of AI and its implementation into process automation tools is when they might be displaced as a result. New research from MIT reveals a need to take the concerns of workers seriously and acknowledges that a significant number of workers will need “fundamental retraining or replacement” in the next few years.
The evolution of work due to automation and AI is creating a workforce skills gap, the report says. Data and AI skills are more in demand than ever and executives polled estimate nearly 40 percent of their workforce will need to be retrained or replaced. And, according to the report, AI will figure prominently in the retraining necessitated by AI.
“Resolving skills gaps no longer falls to human resources or learning and development functions alone,” the report’s authors wrote. “Instead, it has become a strategic imperative, reshaping organizational capabilities based on workforce insights. AI emerged as a powerful tool in this endeavor, enabling skills inference at a scale previously unimaginable. However, the success of this process hinges on more than just advanced technologies. It continuously requires collective effort, trust, and support of stakeholders—including employees—across many organizational levels and functions.”