10 Automation
AI and automation go hand-in-hand. Analyst Frank Rizzo from KPMG South Africa is of the opinion that AI can potentially lead to greater automation of day-to-day tasks, thereby freeing up workers to focus on more mission-critical tasks.
Things like business admin, getting back to customers, doing research, managing financial and legal issues, and so on can likely be done by new methodologies brought about by AI and automation, thanks to advances in those fields in the last few years.
But he believes the threat to jobs isn’t quite as severe as some overseas analysts think it is: workers freed up by AI mean businesses can be up-skilled with new knowledge and abilities that are more relevant in the digital age, such as “data scientist”.
And in place of “the rise of the machines”, he believes in a somewhat less apocalyptic future where it’s not a case of “us vs. them”, and is instead one where companies will find ways for AI and automation to collaborate with workers so that the most can be made of all available resources.
Next: Machine Learning