Page 19 - Arabian Business

COMMENT

q AUTOMATION IS ALREADY HAPPENING,
AND IT WON’T STOP. BUT IT CAN DELIVER
IN A WAY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE”

1. Fight the fear seven. By age ten, students in areas where we know
Automation isn’t scary. learn coding. Skills are so automation is likely to have Where will
Change can be. But like advanced that a visiting a larger impact, such as automation
any change, if explained, Google engineer found kids logistics, retail and repetitive
managed and executed with in Grade 11 (16-17 years clerical work. strike next?
care, it can be powerfully old) would have passed the Investment in research The sectors where it’s
positive. Despite many notoriously hard Google and development will also already having an impact
studies showing that interview process. be crucial: currently about
automation will create jobs, We need to be moving five percent of companies Insurance
recent studies have suggested to a model where everyone undertake 54 percent of R&D In Japan, Fukoku Mutual
that employees still fear it. entering the world of work spending. For automation to Life Insurance laid off 30
It’s important to remember has at least basic coding succeed, this needs to change of its medical insurance
that automation isn’t new. competencies. Doing so has – and fast. representatives, replacing
It has happened throughout the potential to transform them with an artifi cial
history, and we wouldn’t industries that many see as 5. Educate for empathy intelligence (AI) system based
have the modern world – “at risk” from automation. and champion creativity on IBM’s supercomputer
from farming to transport We are already seeing Emotional intelligence (EI) Watson to analyse and
and energy to entertainment manufacturers shift their plays a role in everything. interpret unstructured data
– without it. It’s time for us to workforce from the assembly People skills are already faster than a human.
rebalance the debate around line to developer roles, leading incredibly important,
automation to reassure the to increased outputs and staff but will be in even higher Banking
wider public that, done in the numbers, and allowing the demand in the future. Any New AI smart apps can now
right way, automation can “reshoring” of jobs that would job that benefits from the conduct cash transactions,
benefit us all. otherwise be outsourced. EI that only humans can open accounts and process
provide will be in high applications at a fraction of
2. Think collaboratively 4. Develop new skills demand. We need to look at the cost and time it takes for
Governments, educators, Businesses also have an ways to educate for empathy, a human employee equivalent
businesses and consumers important role to play in so that the workforce of to do them.
all have a role to play in re-educating and retraining tomorrow will have the soft
shaping the future of all areas of the workforce. skills to thrive in the future. Construction
automation. Action in Large companies should The same is true of Yes, even bricklayers are
isolation will only help with consider spending a creativity, where humans under threat. Robot SAMs
some of the answers. I believe percentage of turnover on will still be in charge of most (semi-automated masons)
it’s necessary for governments retraining programmes creative industries. Even can lay up to 1,200 bricks per
and businesses to show joint in an automated world, day – compared to the 400
leadership, coming together creativity will be essential. average that a human can do.
to discuss and develop the Sector in
policies, processes and numbers These five rules for Transportation
practical guidance that will automation will not provide This is already here in the
set the Middle East on the all the answers, and they UAE, both on the Dubai Metro
path to success. won’t cover everything. and Masdar City. Taxis are
47% They are intended as a next in line, and Uber is
3. Education, education, starting point; a call-to-arms already testing its own fl eet
education The percentage of jobs to organisations to unite of self-driving cars.
Technology is dramatically in the US “at risk” of and begin this journey.
changing how we view and automation, according Automation is already Manufacturing
interact with the world, so to a report from Citibank happening, and it won’t China’s Foxconn recently
the development of skills and Oxford University stop. But it can deliver in a replaced over 60,000 workers
needs to keep up. By and way that works for everyone, with automation robots. In the
large, education curriculums with careful planning, last two years, 505 factories
around the world need to co-operation and considered across Dongguan – in the
develop alongside industry, $15.7tr thinking. A new year is Guangdong province – have
and some are already doing always a good time to make invested $500m in robots,
so. In Vietnam, computer The estimated global resolutions, so let’s start this aiming to replace thousands
science lessons begin at age market value of AI in 2030 journey together. more workers.

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