Embracing the Future of Work: How AI is Revolutionizing the Job Market
Reports of recent job cuts, especially by tech companies, have spurred speculation about the impact of AI on the workplace: Will the advanced computing technology increasingly replace people on the job? This concern is not unfounded, as the integration of AI in various industries is transforming the way we work.
Kaitlyn McCormick, a student pursuing a master’s degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning through CSU Global, an online, fully accredited university, shares her perspective on the matter. “If you’re thinking four years or two years of education is going to take you to right where you need to be and you’ll be fine for the next 50 years, that’s not reality,” McCormick said. “If you don’t try to become more relevant, you’re going to be left behind. That’s the cold, dark truth.” McCormick, who has worked in IT for about 16 years, believes that it’s essential to adapt to the changing job market and acquire new skills to remain relevant.
The Role of AI in the Workplace
Matthew Brown, program director of computer science at CSU Global, echoes McCormick’s statement, emphasizing that AI still requires human input. “The machines don’t learn all on their own,” Brown said. “They still have to have data input, they have to have human interaction for those models to be built.” Brown doesn’t believe that AI will replace people, but rather, jobs are changing and morphing into something else. People are needed to work with AI to interpret data and results.
Artificial intelligence is a set of technologies that allows machines and computer programs to mimic human intelligence through experience, identifying patterns and making decisions based on large volumes of data at a speed beyond what people can do alone. CSU Global describes machine learning as a subfield of AI that helps a system learn more quickly so it can accomplish a particular task. Brown gave an example of a quality engineer in aerospace working on a design for an airplane wing, where AI could review data and issue a report in less than a day, freeing up the engineer to focus on higher-level tasks.
The Impact of AI on Jobs
While AI is expected to augment certain jobs, it may also lead to the displacement of others. Brown expects certain jobs, such as data entry or writing lines of computer code, to change or disappear. “AI can generate lines of code way faster than anyone could type it out,” Brown said. “So those jobs that are being impacted the most are jobs that are high-touch, redundant work that’s prone to errors because of human input.” However, he also notes that new job opportunities will emerge, and people with skills in AI will be in high demand.
According to a report by Challenger Gray & Christmas, technology led in private-sector job cuts as companies restructure amid AI integration, slower demand, and efficiency pressures. The industry announced 33,281 reductions, compared with 5,639 in September. However, experts argue that companies may be blaming AI for layoffs that are actually due to business mistakes and belt-tightening. Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told CNBC that “there’s very little evidence that it cuts jobs anywhere near like the level that we’re talking about.”
CSU Global’s online master’s degree program in AI and machine learning has seen a significant enrollment, with about 560 students currently enrolled. The program aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to work with AI and stay relevant in the changing job market. As Brown said, “As an institution, we’ve decided that we need to understand and be a part of AI, making sure that students understand it and can use it efficiently to get the kind of work they want.”
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