The main topic of discussion in the last World Economic Forum in Davos has been the impact of artificial Intelligence on the future of work. It looks like this big transformation is seen both as a risk (loosing job because eliminated by the technology) and as an opportunity (possibility of amplify the human potential). What is clear is that the pace of change is becoming frenetic and the impact of it huge. Just to give few examples: the skills we learned in formal education will become soon irrelevant because of the scale, scope and complexity of the technology transformation, the best Chinese strategist of the game “GO” (considered by experts extremely more complex than the game of chess) has been beaten for the first time by a computer; 3D printing might be soon enable us to “print” chocolate at home; experts say that in many type of job we may expect to have a robot as a boss. The digital transformation will impact every aspects of how we live and work
So, how people are reacting to this scenario?
Based on a research conducted by Infosys (Report: Amplifying Human Potential), the younger generation looks optimistic about the future despite we would expect the opposite by the conditions we foreseen. Why? For Sandeep Dadlani from Infosys (Interviewed by J. Morgan in his Podcasts Series) the main reason is because digital is an add-on for the generation X and above but the millennial have grown up with it, for them it is an evolution, not a disruption. They are already used to the impact of digital because they are digital native.
On the other side, however, the generation that is in executive positions now does not feel prepared to manage the impact and implications of it, but they have already started to look for new solutions especially in places, like Asia and US, which are already much more exposed to the digitalization. In other places, like some countries in Europe for example, on the contrary, only few actors start their first timid explorations and many are even not aware that we are at the end of an era and that there will be a profound need to rethink the paradigms we use to approach the world on all aspects of our life (individual, social, economical, institutional).
From a Corporate stand point, these are the main areas where we foreseen important implications, based on our research and studies on the future trends, and where our clients start to ask us for support:
- Business model transformation
- Need for disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship
- Lack of competences (technical and leadership) and need to change the education system
- New forms of organization
- Need to cope with the new approach to work and to the internal corporate services by the young digitalized generation