While the important debate over the potential negative impacts of AI on existing jobs continues, let’s also recognize that in every technological and societal shift, there are also plenty of winners.

Each of the previous industrial revolutions made many jobs and businesses obsolete, but they also generated completely new work and industries that more often generated better economics than those they replaced.

New Opportunities Will Arise

Sure, AI is anticipated to eliminate a lot of work, but It’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that new, lucrative AI careers and business opportunities will also emerge in the years ahead. Any discussion on the future of AI must include the jobs and careers it will create and the way it will augment the way many work.

By transforming what and how work is delivered, according to the consulting firm, McKinsey, AI is projected to contribute $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030. The World Economic Forum is on record predicting that AI will create 97 million new jobs by 2025.

Looking just at generative AI, the realm of GPT, a Goldman Sachs study suggests it could produce a $7 trillion increase in global GDP by the early 2030s.

These numbers, of course, can vary depending on how we define the scope of AI. Should we include robots in our definition, for example?

Near-term Focus of AI

Broadly though, much of the value that AI will bring over the next few years can be distilled into three major buckets:

• Improved customer experiences
• New revenue opportunities
• Cost reductions

Consider for a moment a few of the different types of new AI-centric businesses and jobs that may be created to support these areas. Equally important too, is to evaluate what roles these efforts might displace.

Today, most organizations recognize the role of technology, and particularly digitalization, as a core mechanism for achieving these strategic objectives. The ongoing digital transformation of the global economy will continue to drive demand in technology-related jobs. AI-specific work may require more technical education and specialization. The need for data-focused jobs — given the intersection between AI and digitalization — will also continue to increase.

Demand for Hot Skills

According to CompTIA, a leading technology association, the top five AI skills for IT professionals include:

• Support and troubleshooting of AI issues
• AI algorithm development
• Software development in general
• Cybersecurity
• Data analysis

And what about generative AI? This area is creating a demand for roles that include:

• Prompt engineers — the role that specializes in creating the best input for GPT
• All types of data-related roles
• AI product owners
• AI trainers — including those for training AI, not people
• Lots of backend technical engineering roles
• Science and research work
• Analysts

What will surprise us all in the future will be the essential roles that we can’t even imagine right now.

There’s Reason to be Optimistic

In an environment of work disruption and future career uncertainty, at least in the short to medium term, if you’re thoughtful and strategic about your skills development, there will be opportunities. If you’re inclined towards a role in the world of AI, demand will be high for some time to come, and completely new work will emerge.

Stay informed and be proactive.

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This post is adapted from Dr. Jonathan Reichental’s upcoming online video course about Artificial Intelligence, which comes out in fall 2023.

In the interim, you can enjoy Dr. Reichental’s popular online video courses and also check out his best-selling books, here: reichental.com/learn

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