The impact of AI on the technology sector.

It goes without saying that advancements in technology have had a huge impact on the way we live our lives. Whether that’s using cloud based voice services to build our shopping lists, or tracking the way we exercise with smart watches, tech is everywhere. In particular, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are having a huge impact on our personal and work lives.

Already, employers are implementing AI across their organisations to empower and accelerate their workforce in new and innovative ways. Since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, the corporate world has focused on the ability of generative artificial intelligence tools to automate and streamline various business functions. In fact, a report released by Goldman Sachs earlier this year revealed that two-thirds of US and European jobs are already exposed to some degree of AI automation.

However, this also raises an age-old question on everyone’s mind: do people feel their jobs will be replaced by technology?

The answer is no, according to a majority of those surveyed by Randstad in our latest Workmonitor Pulse Survey. Globally, most (52%) believe AI will lead to their own career growth and promotion rather than losing their job. This is evidenced by a surge in job postings seeking AI skills. Randstad’s own tracking of such postings indicate an increase of 2,000% since March alone. Furthermore, almost two in five UK employees (37%) are excited about the prospect of AI in the workplace, a more common attitude than concern, which was expressed by one in three (33%).

When we look at the data specifically for IT services industry workers, unsurprisingly over half (54%) are already using AI in their jobs. In fact, 69% stated that they’re excited about the prospect of AI in the workplace, which is an 86% rise on the industry average of 37%. However, despite this obvious enthusiasm for advancements in tech, nearly two thirds (65%) of those surveyed think that AI will impact their industry or role, suggesting that there is a clear opportunity for employees to upskill themselves, and for employers to revolutionise the way that they use AI in their workplaces.

The changing face of tech.

Compared with other industries, IT services is clearly in the more advanced stages of the technology adoption cycle, compared with sectors such as construction and education. However, the pace of change has been so rapid that, understandably, 40% of workers in the tech sector are actually worried about the impact of AI on their job security - 21% more than the industry average. So, although there is clear evidence that the industry is excited about AI, there is also work to be done to reassure workers, and understand how it makes new opportunities available to them.

Technology with the human touch.

With the rise of AI comes the rise of humans needing to learn, control and adapt to the technology. In fact, 53% of tech workers surveyed actually think that using AI will open up more time for human interaction. While AI systems are designed to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks autonomously, human input remains crucial throughout the development and application of AI. Some ways that organisations are already harnessing this mixture of tech and touch are as follows:

Data quality.

Really, the results of using AI will only be as good as what we put into it. There is also a risk of data bias, depending on the quality, objectivity and size of training data used to teach it. Therefore, human experts are required to curate this data, ensuring that it is accurate, relevant, and fit for purpose.

Ethical considerations.

It goes without saying that ethics need to be considered when using any kind of technology, both in the workplace and at home. Humans can define the principles, values, and objectives that will then guide AI development and use.

Decision making.

Humans need to interpret the output of AI algorithms, considering things such as environmental, social, and political contexts. This will then enable us to make educated decisions on how to use the data AI provides.

Creativity and innovation.

AI is extending the opportunities, and in some cases challenging the boundaries for creativity, but humans are still needed for the original ideas, the curation of what AI produces, and the critical thinking needed to use what AI produces.

Continuous improvement and adaptation.

Human expertise ensures that AI algorithms evolve and improve based on real-world feedback and changing requirements: human-led oversight is required to monitor for AI bias, whether due to a skew of data going in, or automated bias in the output. It can also be effective to have a team of people involved in AI interpretation, so as to reduce the chance of human bias when reviewing data.

Human-centred design.

AI systems need to be user-friendly, empathetic, and aligned with human goals, leading to better user experiences and acceptance.

Despite the clear importance of humans working with the technology, it can be difficult to regulate how it is being used globally due to the pace of change: in theory, anyone can learn how to create and use AI. By the time governments around the world have regulated how AI is used, these regulations will likely be out of date, as we will be on to the next development in AI. In order to try to combat this, the UK government hosted a Global AI summit on 1 and 2 November 2023, which will hopefully baseline how AI can be used positively, and how we can get some rapidly evolving regulation to wrap around AI as a whole.

New tech brings new opportunities.

According to Morgan McKinley, some new roles that are already being created from the AI revolution include AI Researchers, Robotics Engineers, and Deep Learning Engineers. There has also been an increase in the need for Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers.

One area where AI could be revolutionary is in managing cybersecurity threats. In September 2023, security firm Proofpoint released its Cybersecurity: The 2023 Board Perspective report, which surveyed more than 650 board members at organisations with 5,000 or more employees across the US, Canada and Europe. A key finding from the report is that nearly six in 10 board members said that ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools are seen as a security risk to their business. This concern is reinforced by cybersecurity firm Darktrace’s report that phishing attempts made by impersonation of organisation’s internal IT teams increased by 19% between May and July 2023: cybercriminals have adopted generative AI techniques and tools to refine their own techniques.

Therefore, this clearly shows that we need to put more human resource into understanding the impact of AI on cybersecurity - organisations need to employ more staff to strengthen cyber-resilience, and learn how to fight AI with AI, rather than with dated and legacy technology. Cyber security firms globally are regularly releasing data to support organisations with this - for example, the BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence team has recently published its 2023 threat report, which examines the challenges to governments and public entities, vulnerabilities in the healthcare sector, risks to financial institutions, and the criticality of safeguarding vital infrastructure.

Supporting employees to succeed.

Given this huge opportunity that the pace of tech change has brought, it is vital that organisations within the IT services sector not only realise the impact AI has on its business but also the employees within it. Our data shows that 23% of workers in the sector have been offered training about AI in the past 12 months - the highest of any industry, with the UK average being just 7%. Despite this, 61% still said that they need more learning and development around AI to future proof their career and enhance their earning potential. Employers can support their employees by:

Understanding the opportunities - take the time to fully digest the results of the Global AI Summit once published
Investing in learning and development for staff - even just discussing the topic can go a long way to eliminating concern and uncertainty
Gathering feedback from the workforce - giving people a say in how they use AI is essential to support change management. For example, regular surveying of staff or sharing questions and concerns on an internal intranet

If you would like to find out more about how AI can be used specifically to enhance your organisation’s recruitment process, click here.

If you would like a discussion about your organisation’s approach to AI, you can contact the randstad digital team.

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