Addressing the Gen AI fear factor

CEOs are very bullish about the impact that Generative AI (Gen AI) will have on their businesses’ productivity and efficiency. And with good reason. Research firm Nielsen, for example, released a study which showed that Gen AI could increase average worker productivity by a staggering 66%.

In contrast, many employees are worried about Gen AI’s effect on their livelihoods. A 2023 survey by consultancy BCG revealed that frontline employees were nearly twice as concerned as leaders about Gen AI’s implications and much less optimistic about its impact on their work. Those fears and concerns could raise a significant barrier to adoption. And that, in turn, will make it harder for CEOs and leaders to secure the benefits they anticipate.

Roadblocks to automation

A 2023 WEF survey on the future of jobs reports that organisations today estimate 34% of all business-related tasks are performed by machines, with the remaining 66% performed by humans. This represents a negligible 1% increase in the level of automation that was estimated by respondents to the 2020 edition of the Future of Jobs Survey. In other words, getting people on board with the need to adopt new technology is hard but every bit as important as implementing the technology itself.

Familiarity breeds content

But are frontline workers’ concerns about Gen AI in any way justified? It will unquestionably have a huge impact on how many  people work. According to the World Economic Forum, at least 40% of time spent on most jobs will in some way be affected by AI. However, the ratio of organisations which believe that Gen AI will create job growth rather than losses is two-to-one.  And just as significantly, BCG’s survey found that as people become more accustomed to using Gen AI tools, their sentiments about its impacts shift to the positive. Regular users are nearly twice as likely to be optimistic about Gen AI’s impacts than those who have never used AI, and half as likely to be concerned about its impacts.

The message seems clear: workers with experience of using Gen AI embrace it. Those without  experience tend to fear it. So, providing exposure to this new technology as early as possible is likely not just to help employees become accustomed to new tech, it’s also vital to lower barriers to adoption that could impede future value realisation.

We want to learn

The WEF Future of Jobs report 2023 notes a gap between the proportion of workers that will need training in new technology (more than 60%) and the number, less than half, that say they have adequate access to training today. That gap is even wider in BCG’s research. It found that 86% of employees believe they will need upskilling to address how AI will change their jobs, but only 14% report having already gone through training.

A looming talent shortfall

Recent IMF analysis suggests that Gen AI’s impact will be felt across the spectrum of roles but just as likely to augment than fully replace people. But the report also emphasizes the importance of retraining in order to avoid deepening inequalities. So while the fear of jobs being taken wholesale by Gen AI is likely somewhat misplaced, concerns about missing out on training are not. As Paul Hardy, ServiceNow’s EMEA Innovation Officer asserts: “People won’t lose their jobs to AI. People will lose jobs if they refuse to upskill or broaden their skillset to allow for collaborative working alongside AI.”

The evidence suggests that workers recognise the need to develop new skills. Businesses must too. It’s estimated that by 2030, the global shortfall in talent could reach 85 million people, leading to $8.5 trillion in unrealised revenue. The question is, how should employers go about meeting their people’s needs and ensure that they don’t fall victim to the talent shortage.

One vital step is to understand their starting point. Kelley Steven-Waiss, ServiceNow’s Chief Transformation Officer, suggests that: “We’re no longer in the war for talent. We’re in the race for skills. Organisations looking to build competitive advantage need to make sure they have visibility to the skills they have today as well as the skills they need in the future.”

But for most organisations, identifying present and future skills’ requirements  and availability is likely to be a challenge. It requires visibility in the form of a single source of skills truth. Creating that means moving on from static and spreadsheet-based methods to a single skills data repository that will provide both to-the-minute accuracy and the ability to scale.

No employee left behind

With a clear idea of the skills they have and those they need to develop, organisations can start thinking about the training they will need to put in place. And crucially, that means considering the diverse needs of those who need training. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work, as Kelley Steven-Waiss points out: “Business leaders need to focus on how to meet the needs of a multi-generational workforce. Over the next decade, we’re going to have five generations in the same place, at the same time with varying expectations from the digital tools, their workplace, and how they are communicated to. In order to engage such a broad workforce, we have to find ways to make them feel empowered by the technology they use everyday.” And a crucial part of that will be how people work alongside Gen AI.

With that in mind, it’s worth noting that people of all ages are willing and eager to learn about how they can gain from working more effectively with Gen AI. Avoiding stereotypes is essential. The technology could (and arguably should) help everyone to be more effective in their roles and spend more time on the activities that inspire and fulfil them the most.

Bottom line? Make sure that training in new skills is made available to all. It’s all too easy to proceed on the misconceived basis that some people are more willing or able to learn based on their age, experience or current role. But with a huge talent shortfall likely to affect every organisation – it could prove a dangerous assumption to make.