“Every software is going to be intelligent by design. If you’re building intelligent software, you need to design and architect it differently, ensuring it behaves as expected. This is a non-trivial problem because AI models continuously learn and evolve,” Dr Vin said in a conversation with CNBC.
He added that when AI replaces mundane jobs, human workers’ attention would go from carrying out tasks to determining what needs to be done, when, and why. Soft skills like problem-solving, ambiguity management, and critical thinking would become more and more important, he continued.
“A shift that will happen in a lot of jobs from how to do something to a lot more of what to do, when to do, why to do something. This means that a lot more of these, if you will, soft skills that people have–critical thinking or ability to deal with ambiguity and things, etc–will start becoming far more important than hard skills. The hard skills are something that people will acquire on demand,” Dr Vin said.
He also highlighted the development of new professional roles, especially in AI assurance, where experts will be required to continually test and authenticate AI systems so that they don’t stray from predicted behaviours. AI assurance differs from conventional software testing because AI systems are constantly changing as they learn and adapt to new patterns and data.
The change will not make human work redundant, he added, but will redefine it. “Individuals will learn hard skills on demand, but their capacity to think critically and creatively will be their greatest asset in the future workplace,” he said.
Workforce transformation, not reduction
Dr Harrick Vin had spoken a year ago in an interview with CNBC that AI would change the way employees work but wouldn’t cause big-scale job loss.
Vin maintained that AI can be seen as a tool of augmentation, not replacement, that will help workers get their jobs done more effectively and efficiently.
“AI will get people to do work a lot better than they are doing it today,” he said, pointing out the ways in which AI can make industries more productive, efficient, and context-aware, especially customer service.
“Productivity will increase, but rather than cutting jobs, it will enable workers to do new, high-value work,” he said.
In customer service, for instance, roles will shift from complaint management to customer success management, demanding a different skill set but not fewer employees. Vin categorically ruled out the possibility of having completely automated, man-less customer success centres, saying that human intelligence will always be needed in controlling AI processes, checking AI outputs, and dealing with sophisticated customer interactions.
