Knowledge Workers Lack Transferable Skills — Here’s What They Can Do About It
According to the IMF, 40% of jobs worldwide will be exposed to AI. For AI optimists, this is a good thing. Working alongside AI will lead to increased productivity, generating gains across the macroeconomy.
While AI adoption will be good for some workers, it won’t benefit everyone. As the IMF states in their findings:
“Roughly half the exposed jobs may benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. For the other half, AI applications may execute key tasks currently performed by humans, which could lower labor demand, leading to lower wages and reduced hiring. In the most extreme cases, some of these jobs may disappear.”
Tasks that can be easily eliminated or replaced by AI will be. In the process, the transition to an AI-dominant workforce will eliminate the human-occupied jobs that were once required to complete those tasks. That means the skills needed to perform those tasks will be rendered useless in the economy. Workers with expertise in AI-exposed skills will find themselves stuck with nowhere to go.
Knowledge workers are aware that this is on the horizon. In a recent survey conducted by Microsoft, 75% of knowledge workers stated they are already using AI in their jobs. Some in secret, fearing it will eventually replace them.
