A.I and the Future of Work for the Community
The future of artificial intelligence’s (A.I) and its effect on work will be in the future might be elusive. But we could all agree on one thing - it will be disruptive.
So far, while many have cast that disruption in a negative light and projected a future in which robots take jobs from human workers, but the truth is very far from the doomsday Images of Terminator and the end of the world.
While that may be one way to look at it, another is that automation may create even more jobs than it displaces. By offering new tools for entrepreneurs & Tech Gurus, it may also create new lines of business that we can’t possibly imagine at this point.
A recent study from Redwood Software and Sapio Research underscores this view. Participants in the 2017 study said they believe that 60 percent of businesses can be automated in the next five years.
On the other hand, Gartner predicts that by 2020 AI will produce more jobs than it displaces.
In addition to creating new jobs, AI will also help people do their jobs better — and a lot better. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s Chief Technology and Innovation Officer summed this idea up as, “Human plus machine equals superpowers.”
For many reasons, the optimistic view is likely the more realistic one especially with regard to the changes that many companies have seen with regard to their operational and also strategic changes when COVID-19 hit Singapore shores. Companies and organisations realised that had they not been able to innovate, and be nimble on their feet, they would not be able to ride the wave and succeed amidst such exceptional circumstances.
The Biggest Technological Trends beyond 2021 – What the Future Holds
Another thing that is clear and almost certain is that today’s most important tech trends will play a big part in helping us cope with and adapt to the many challenges facing us in future. From the shift to working from home to new rules about how we meet and interact in public spaces, the new technological trends will be the driving force in managing such changes.
In many ways, Covid-19 has acted as a catalyst for a whole host of changes that were already on the cards anyway, thanks to our increasingly online and digital lives. Things will just take place at a faster pace now, with necessity as the driving force. While Covid-19 may “magically disappear” in time to come – the changes it has brought to the world will not, as we will have learnt to do a lot of things more efficiently and safely. We share some of the technological trends that may shape work and the community in future both at the local as well as global levels.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I)
A.I is undoubtedly one of the biggest tech trends at the moment, and during 2021 and beyond, it will become an even more valuable tool for helping us to interpret and understand the world around us better. The volume of data we are collecting on healthcare, infection rates, and the success of measures we take to prevent the spread of infection will continue to increase. This means that machine learning algorithms will become more informed and increasingly sophisticated in the solutions they uncover for us.
From computer vision systems monitoring the capacity of public areas to analysing the interactions uncovered through contact tracing initiatives, self-learning algorithms will spot connections and insights that would go unnoticed by manual human analysis. They will help us predict demand for services from hospitals and other healthcare providers, and allow administrators to make better decisions about when and where to deploy resources.
For businesses across the world, the challenge will be to understand the changing patterns of customer and consumer behaviour. More human activity will take place online – from shopping and socializing to virtual working environments, meetings, and recruitment. During 2021 we can expect the tools we use to analyse these behavioural shifts to become more sophisticated and increasingly fit the budget and infrastructure requirements of more and more organisations.
Robotics, Drones, and Vehicle Automation
As the volume of passengers using public transport fluctuates from week to week, even in countries like Singapore, initiatives around self-driving vehicles will continue to increase. Driving efficiency across public transport networks will be a priority for service providers as well as civic authorities, where reducing human labour costs will help balance the uncertainty around customer demand.
In recent years we have seen the emergence of robots in the care and assisted living sectors, and these will become increasingly important, particularly when it comes to interacting with members of society who are most vulnerable to infection, such as the elderly. Rather than entirely replacing the human interaction with caregivers that is so important to many, we can expect robotic devices to be used to provide new channels of communication, such as access to 24/7 in-home help, as well as to simply provide companionship at times when it may not be safe to be sending nursing staff into homes. Additionally, companies finding themselves with premises that, while empty, still require maintenance and upkeep, will turn to robotics providers for services such as cleaning and security. This activity has already led to soaring stock prices for enterprises involved in supplying robots.
Drones will be used to deliver vital medicine and, equipped with computer vision algorithms, used to monitor footfall in public areas in order to identify places where there is an increased risk of viral transmission.
The As-A-Service Revolution
“As-a-service” – the provision of services that we need to live and work through cloud-based, on-demand platforms – is the key that has put the other tech trends we talk about today in reach of just about anybody. It’s the reason why AI and robotics are a possibility for just about any business or organisation, regardless of their size or budget. And more of than not, this has also hit the consumer markets as well. Thanks to cloud offerings from companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and an ever-growing horde of startups, innovators in all fields can deploy cutting-edge tech with little upfront investment in tools, equipment or specialised people to people skills.
As the ongoing pandemic rages around the world, we have clearly seen that companies that rely on cloud to provide scalable solutions as-a-service are prospering. Take Zoom, for example, which has quickly become a household name thanks to the speed with which it was able to add servers and increase its coverage and quality of service. This was due to its cloud-based nature and its partnerships with its own service providers, that were able to quickly increase capacity to meet demand. In 2021 and beyond, this is going to become increasingly important and more possibilities will open up for everyone.
5G and enhanced connectivity
Faster and more reliable internet doesn't just mean we can load webpages more quickly and spend less time waiting for videos to launch on Youtube. Each successive advance in mobile connectivity from 3G onwards has unlocked new use cases for the internet. 3G made web browsing and data-driven services useful on mobile devices, 4G led to the growth of streaming video and music platforms as bandwidths increased, and 5G, likewise, will open more doors in terms of what is possible especially in the area of human connectivity.
5G means that services relying on advanced technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality (discussed below) as well as cloud-based gaming platforms like Google's Stadia or NVidia's GeForce Now become a viable proposition, anywhere at any time. They also threaten to make cable and fiber-based networks redundant, with their need for us to be tethered to a particular location.
In short, 5G and other advanced, high-speed networks make all of the other trends we discuss here available anywhere, any time. Complex machine learning applications relying on real-time access to Big Data sources can be conducted in the field, via automation.
Shaping the Minds of our Young to Prepare them for the Future of Work
The Singapore community is a strong, forward-thinking and resilient one. Most of our ancestors were travellers, traders, businessmen and worked hard in their various fields and pursuits. The faster we get over the inertia of change, the quicker we have with regard to chances of success. The faster we embrace technology and its ability to transform worlds, the faster we are able to move our community ahead.
In his speech in 2015 at the opening of Singapore’s fourth university, the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s (SUTD) new campus, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted the importance of skills across Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the future development of Singapore.
Many would agree that the wave of future economic prosperity lies in a workforce that is well-versed in rising job markets like science, technology, engineering and math. Thus, there has been an increased investment in STEM initiatives in schools across the board in Singapore.
However, STEM-based education is more than just science and mathematics concepts.
The focus on hands-on learning with real-world applications helps develop a variety of skill sets, including creativity and 21st-century skills which include media and technology literacy, productivity, social skills, communication, flexibility and initiative. Other skills attained through STEM education include problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, decision making, leadership, entrepreneurship, acceptance of failure and more. These skill sets make learners “future proof” and will go a long way to preparing them to be innovative.
In today’s world, it is impossible to differentiate these fields from one another. Pick any item from your household or office and try to fit it in just any one of the STEM subjects. You will find it impossible to do so, for everything is integrated with each other.
Science and Math lead to technology development, which is then integrated with engineering to make it useful in our life.
STEM education then encourages our young to then experiment, make mistakes and learn from own experiences to reach correct outcomes, rather than relying on what the textbook says.
And this is why it is so important for Malay/Muslim families and households to be able to evolve and to get their young children more involved in wholistic learning across the various disciplines so that they’re better in tuned with regard to the future of work.
The truth is, we cannot teach our young to compete with machines and to compete with all the infrastructural hardware that’s available in Singapore and throughout the rest of the world. But what could be done, is to instil in them values and skills that no machine could replace.
Therefore it is in this spirit that we would like to share the 10 qualities that is needed to harness in our Malay/Muslim children come 2020 and beyond according to the World Economic Forum. These are the very qualities that future employers will be looking for given the vast technological changes and adoption that will be taking place across the globe. And the good news is that these very skills could be harnessed and grown over a period of time and something which we believe could be inculcated in our young from their childhood days.
Complex problem solving
Critical thinking
Creativity
People management
Coordinating with others
Emotional intelligence
Judgement and decision making.
Service orientation
Negotiation
Cognitive flexibility
If our young do not adapt and our community does not give them the tools and the environment to thrive in, we would not be able to prepare them for the workplace in 2030 and beyond.
