Some of the nation’s biggest tech companies have announced efforts to reskill people to avoid job losses caused by artificial intelligence, even as they work to perfect the technology that could eliminate millions of those jobs.
It’s fair to ask, however: What should college students and prospective students, weighing their choices and possible time and financial expenses, think of this?
The news this spring was encouraging for people seeking to reinvent their careers to grab middle-class jobs and a shot at economic security.
“Tech giants hatch a plan for AI job losses: Reskill 95 million in 10 years,” reads one recent headline. The ZDNET story details plans for a group including Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft to help people who have lost or are about to lose their jobs.
There are two sides to this: Learning about AI and other tech, and learning with those technologies. Online learning opportunities abound, as anyone knows who has turned to YouTube for instructions in cooking, car repairs, coding or a hundred other pursuits.
The big names are also pitching in to help learners understand the exploding field of artificial intelligence. For example, on its SkillsBuild learning portal, IBM offers a free credential in AI basics in a 10-hour online training program called AI Fundamentals.
Amazon, meanwhile, created the Generative AI Foundations series, which tech writer David Gewirtz calls an “all-you-can-eat buffet of really cool and really interesting material to learn and watch.”
While nobody knows how many jobs will be lost—or created—due to artificial intelligence, it’s already clear that AI, besides being a great subject for learning, will make it cheaper and more convenient to upskill and prepare for the future. AI will also be ubiquitous. Most major computer applications now have an AI assistant. Understanding how to use those and interpret what they share will help leverage human ability in our interaction with machines.
MIT Economics Professor David Autor is optimistic, writing in Noema that we should not be worried about having enough jobs.
“We are not running out of jobs,” Autor said. “And in fact, you know, all the Western world right now is in full or over-employment. And even during the whole computer revolution zone, we didn’t run out of jobs. It’s not the quantity that matters.”
Autor, co-director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, said in an interview with Lumina Foundation that AI can help leverage expertise so workers can do higher-value work.
“I’m not Pollyanna about it. There will be real dislocation and displacement,” he says. “But there’s more upside and potential than with previous technology. AI will reshape the value and nature of human expertise. Expertise commands a market premium if it is both necessary for accomplishing an objective and relatively scarce.”
Tutoring is one promising area for AI, as is interactive learning through simulations of work environments. For example, pilots have long benefitted from training on simulators, and now AI is augmenting simulators for other skills in virtual reality platforms. One notable example: an AI-powered laparoscopic simulator to train surgeons to work inside the body using long tools inserted through small incisions. In their training, the students get immediate feedback from the artificial intelligence system, which itself has been trained on the movements of experts.
Where does higher education fit into this? Many of those seeking to grow their skills online could be forgiven if they feel ill-served—left on their own to navigate the options and competing benefits of online learning. Yes, there’s an abundance of free online training—just as there’s always been an abundance of knowledge in libraries. But learning requires more than mere access to information—and higher ed can fill that gap. It has a natural role in presenting, explaining, and documenting learning—not just curating online resources. It adds value through quality instruction, broad-based learning, and partnerships with employers. Ideally, online learning tools will increasingly be embedded in longer learning paths that, should the learner wish, lead to college degrees.
Today’s colleges and universities face immense challenges, to be sure—but AI also presents them with a dual opportunity: They can use AI systems to educate people for good jobs more quickly and at less expense; and they can build instruction about AI itself across majors and disciplines.
Frankly, given AI’s inexorable progress, this is a path they must take. The rocketing pace of change demands that schools experiment, adapt, and collaborate as never before.
We may also need to adjust our message for students of all ages and levels. The new message? Skill up—and keep it up. In today’s world, frequent reskilling is the only way to stay ahead of the game.
This article was originally published in Forbes.