Rise of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics – Skills You Need to Sustain and Grow

Recently I was attending a seminar on the latest cloud technologies and how companies should prepare themselves to take full advantage of the developments happening across the globe. One of the focus areas which got maximum attention was Artificial Intelligence and attendees were keen to know about the skills needed to sustain in the IT industry that is getting flooded each day with new breakthroughs.

The outcome of the discussion was pretty straightforward and can be summarised within the following two lines. While the industry is experiencing technology disruption at a fast pace, enterprises need to embrace the changes with an open mind. It is not only necessary to understand the developments in Artificial Intelligence and related technologies like Machine Learning, Robotics, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, but also important for the companies to focus on building the skills in areas in which machines can’t fare well.

Let’s take a look at tasks AI can handle better than humans.

Considering the mammoth growth of artificial intelligence year on year, we can expect more in the upcoming months. However, there has been extravagant publicity about what AI is capable of for the sake of catchy headlines and curiosity-arousing news snippets. It’s true that technology is taking giant leaps in simplifying and automating some tasks, but have you ever thought about the complexity of such tasks? In fact, several of these tasks are actually much simpler than is portrayed to the outside world.

Machine learning uses the simple technique of taking one type of input, say Input X, and producing a simple response, Output Y. Think of a program that is taught to recognize whether or not there is a cake in a photograph. We input a series of images, X, and the program tells us if the images contain cakes, Y.

While this has the potential to simplify and automate many different kinds of tasks, it also has two primary shortcomings. First, the program needs to be fed with massive amounts of learning data to begin to produce Output Y reliably. A cake may be a plain one or with icing, may be layered, may have candles fitted in or around, implying the context is important too. So, in the aforesaid example, you would have to provide the program with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of examples of images and tell the program whether or not they have cakes in them so that it can learn what a cake looks like in many different contexts.

As a real-life utility, few of the potato wafers manufacturing companies, cafes and restaurants have successfully implemented machine learning to detect and separate out rotten or spoilt potatoes just through image recognition. The manual effort required a huge workforce and was much more time-consuming. The automation saves time and is extremely cost effective in the long run.

According to Stanford professor Andrew Ng, a good thumb rule for determining which types of jobs are ready for automation is in case a typical person can do a mental task with less than one second of thought, we can probably consider it for automation using AI either now or in the days to come, he mentions.

There is ample scope for automating the type of tasks that require this Input X to Output Y kind of model, scanning security video for suspicious behavior, notifying drivers about pedestrians on the road, tagging hateful or abusive comments online, segregation of items through image recognition and the list goes on. Not to forget the fact that using AI to automate these tasks also requires a hefty amount of initial investment and effort upfront.

As these exponential technologies develop further and become more unanimous, many human resource driven jobs will get displaced by machines. Some of the popular jobs include telemarketing, library operation, proofreading, general physiotherapy, retail sales, resume scanning and screening, customer support and so on.

Now let’s take a look at tasks humans can handle better than AI.

Keeping in mind the unlimited power of the human brain, there are several tasks which no machine can take over, tasks which require much more than a simple Input X to Output Y calculation, tasks which require additional and very human-oriented qualities like communication, empathy, creativity, strategic thinking, questioning, and analytical reasoning. In generic terminology, we often refer to these qualities as “soft skills”, however these soft skills are going to be hard currency in the job market as AI and other emerging technologies take over some of the jobs that can be performed without human intervention.

Communication with Human Touch: While AI is being used in life science and healthcare applications to do things like more accurately detect diseases on a scan, how many patients or even their family members would want to receive a robot call to break the news of any deadly disease, perhaps none. Even though we are making progress towards effective computing, we are still far away from any technology that can genuinely recognize human emotions and respond to them appropriately. So any job that requires a human touch and empathy like primary care physicians, nurses and caregivers, and physio or psychotherapists are unlikely to be outsourced to technology any time soon.

Analytical Decision Making: No matter how advanced technologies like AI may get, we still need a human to make judgments and analytical decisions in certain critical situations. A realistic example of bank fraud detection using AI comes to mind, as once machine detects fraudulent activity in an account, what happens next is taken care of by bank officials because it requires thorough investigation, analysis, critical thinking and decision making. Even in resume scanning, AI is doing a fair job, but conducting interviews for a good hire, necessitates the involvement of human professional.

Human Creativity: While artificial intelligence and machine learning are good at churning out results for iterative operational tasks like cab booking, flight ticketing, ordering food, etc., when it comes to providing quality of creative options, they are not necessarily as efficient. For example, a film director cannot get an inspiring script from the machine even after explaining the scene numerous times, a job that is definitely of a high-quality human scriptwriter. AI cannot be used in the entertainment or fashion industries to replace human actors or models, nor can the technology produce a delicious dish if you program in the best of recipes. In fact, any job that requires true creativity, such as chefs, designers, writers, entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, etc., are probably safe for a long time based on these results.

Strategic Thinking: In business especially, we're beginning to see a lot of automation of financial accounting, talent acquisition, facility management, sales and marketing practices and the like. For example, I can tell a program to send me a text alert at a particular time of day, on daily basis. And while these can be huge time savers, the automation tools are just that, simply tools. They don't provide the overall strategy needed to give the individual tasks meaning and relevance. AI may help you in sales forecast, but you have to define strategies and inspire your sales team to achieve the targets. Any job that requires strategic thinking or expert advice, is likely to be safe, and improving your skills in that area can help robot-proof your job.

Technical Support, Maintenance, and Upgrade: Human resources are indispensable when it comes to design, planning, installation, configuration, technical support, maintenance and upgrade of any technology, robotics or AI-based systems. So as a technology expert, your value increases with your understanding, knowledge, and control over the subject, thus making your position secure in the competitive world.

Physical Talent and Skills: While machines are being programmed so that they can do increasingly tricky things, like brewing your morning coffee or getting you a cab for office, there are still a significant number of physical skills robots haven’t mastered. Additionally, we humans seem to love to watch each other accomplish incredible physical feats, for example, Sports and Entertainment. So if you have any amazing physical skills, from comedy to singing, crafting to sport, you’re more than safe for now from getting displaced by machines.

Ideation, Imagination, and Vision: Finally, one quality I can't quite fathom a robot or AI ever possessing is just the imagination, idea creation with a long-term vision to make it a reality, after all, how can we deny that humans only created technology. The way AI currently works is by taking existing data and making logical inferences based on parameters we humans feed it with. Imagination and dreaming are merely not programmable skills. Research scientists, artists,  entrepreneurs, visionaries, thought leaders, authors, speakers, and coaches have a distinct advantage over technology in this field, and that isn't going to change any time soon.

If you are insecure looking at the pace at which technology disruption is intruding human job space, the best thing to do right now is to focus on your soft skills. Enhancing your communication, strategic thinking, problem-solving, analytical skill, empathy, and creativity might eventually save your career from being taken over by machines, and even secure your position in the industry as a professional.