Huffington Post, UK: Chief Strategy Officer of Cognizant Digital Business Says Applying AI for Productivity Improvement is the Future of Work

“Over the next few years, AI (artificial intelligence) will continue to change our lives and our work,” says Paul Roehrig, Chief Strategy Officer of Cognizant Digital Business, and co-author of ‘What To Do When Machines Do Everything’. “It is just a fact that new machines will replace some occupations and make some current skills irrelevant.” Excerpts:

“Issues related to AI and bots are swirling through the zeitgeist in films such as Her, TV programs like Black Mirror and Westworld, and books like The Circle.

For those who learn to build and wield our new AI tools and business models properly, the Fourth Industrial Revolution can usher in an era of business growth, better employee engagement and job satisfaction, and lower costs.

Technology has changed the way we work throughout history and AI will certainly automate away some jobs.

AI will take over the more boring, routine, lower value tasks that many of us face, often grudgingly, in our daily work ― so, think of machines as our new helpful colleagues.

After looking at real world examples of AI impacting business, helping improve productivity ― often without displacing massive amounts of workers ― we are not facing a jobless robot dystopia where bots replace teachers, doctors, police officers, consultants, and composers.

With AI enhancement comes more efficiency, more productivity, and ultimately, more opportunity for people to do higher-value work with higher-value skills. This is the route to protecting jobs and creating new ones, not destroying them.

Smart leaders are already applying AI systems as productivity improvement tools, and that is the model for our future of work.”

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