AI doesn’t see the colour of your collar

AI-related technologies are already becoming integrated into daily living, from voice-recognition software in phones and laptops AI-related technologies are already becoming integrated into daily living, from voice-recognition software in phones and laptops

The kindergarten students who entered the school gate for the first time in 2017 will be graduating by 2030. These students and the young people to finish school over the next two decades will be the workers of 2040. Developments in AI are one of a number of interrelated ‘megatrends’ changing the nature of the labour markets across the world. The profound changes ahead demand an education approach that will provide young people with enduring capabilities and skills to harness the opportunities of technological change.
THE PACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
There is significant uncertainty about the full impact of artificial intelligence and automation on employment but the effects are already starting to be felt. A recent analysis focusing on the potential for task automation has put the proportion of whole occupations at risk of automation closer to 10 per cent.
AI doesn’t see the colour of your collar…
Whereas once automation was thought to be contained to low-skilled or routine tasks, advances in technology are resulting in the automation of more highly skilled, cognitive tasks. Improvements in mobile robotics and sensory technologies are leading to far more sophisticated automation of processes. Though much of its potential is yet to be actualised, AI-related technologies are already becoming integrated into daily living, from voice-recognition software in phones and laptops (Siri, Google Assistant) to the content recommendation engine underpinning Netflix.
While many people are yet to experience changes to their jobs as a result of AI first-hand, few doubt the potential for AI to radically disrupt the types of work that we will do and how we do our jobs in the very near future. The cumulative effects of these maturing and intersecting fields will have profound implications for the way humans and technology interact in all fields of work and life.
A MIX OF FACTORS
While technology has always affected work and society, the complex interaction between the new frontiers of automation and AI, global economic trends and demographic shifts underscore the critical importance of investing in education and skills development.
IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION
The passport that today’s kindergarten students will need for life and work in 2040 includes the strong foundations provided by a great school education, which starts with literacy and numeracy and which goes well beyond it and the higher order skills provided by quality post-school education and training. While 21st-century skills are by no means new, it is particularly in recent years that educators have explored whether they need to be explicitly taught, included in academic content standards and routinely assessed, and the extent to which these skills are subject specific or transferrable.
Advances in developmental psychology and research on the science of learning are increasing our understanding of how particular capabilities are acquired. But the evidence base is more developed for some of these skills than others and research is pointing to some complex interrelationships between them.
The next wave of education reform will need to consider the challenges and opportunities of an AI future and what this means for education and learning for all students both in school and beyond. It will need to consider what the ‘right’ set of future skills is, the role of the school in fostering them and the way in which schools should teach and assess them.
— Carl Freer is Founder & CEO of Watopedia