What is the outlook that we need in an increasingly uncertain future of work? This is a future with geo-political and economic uncertainty and global warming.
Add to this state of flux an environment in which jobs are increasingly being taken over by automation and machines, with it being clear that Artificial Intelligence-inspired technologies are here to stay and will dramatically change our lives.
This means that any low-skill jobs, be they in manufacturing, software development, and media are soon going to be taken over by machines. Newspaper reports already have stories of copywriters in America losing their jobs and ending up with alternative careers.
Television channels are testing out new anchors that are totally artificially generated. With new programming tools, programmers are becoming more productive, so we need fewer programmers to do the same work. The story goes on to other spheres.
Those who have used ChatGPT and other generative-AI models have discovered the science of “prompt engineering”. Designing better prompts will help us get the solution that we’re looking for. But ChatGPT still depends on human expertise to spot when it “hallucinates” and gives a wrong answer.
Even prompt engineering will eventually be replaced by the skill of articulating a problem to the system for it to solve itself. ChatGPT is still really a glorious search engine that responds based on the existing realms of knowledge that it’s been trained on. Through Google searches, for example, we get thrown many answers that we need to sift through to find the one we’re looking for. However, ChatGPT gives a measured and nuanced response.
AI systems will soon become intelligent to a degree that we need to develop less skills with prompts. So, future opportunities will lie in in the creation of new knowledge either by engaging in work that is original or solving problems that haven’t been solved before.
In other words, engaging with life in a more entrepreneurial manner to create novel work is going to be crucial. This entrepreneurial spirit could help create products, services, intellectual property or even startups whose purpose is to fulfil as yet unmet market needs.
However, the market for creating new services is limited in the contracting advanced economies of the world. In India, however, there’s a certain optimism. This is because we are a fast-growing economy with a huge appetite for new products and services for an increasingly affluent and demanding population of over 1.4 billion people. Half this population is below the age of 29 years.
If we import future solutions from abroad, we pay 10x the amount required for us to make them locally. There are huge opportunities in building and delivering products and services for our own growing economy where every problem is an opportunity for a startup. The bigger the market, the bigger the opportunity.
But where’s the trained human resource to build these new products and services? Our entire education system is geared towards rote learning and passing exams. Most students are still taught to believe that if they do well in exams, they’ll get a good job.
There is a risk-averse attitude in our society strongly biased against entrepreneurial pursuits. However, the job market today is demanding youngsters with state-of-the-art skills and a host of other abilities.
The school system and higher-education system is hard pressed to deliver young people with such skillsets and the “equipment” to “surf” modern life and its challenges.
For instance, a core quality demanded by entrepreneurship is empathy and a desire to engage with societal problems. Where do we train our students to be perceptive to their surroundings?
Where do we train them with critical thinking abilities? And on the ability to actually solve problems and to do whatever required – self-learn, collaborate and work with teams – to get the job done?
Further, we need the knowledge of how to raise money and also specialised updated knowledge of technology to give us an edge in the market.
For the lucky ones who get to the IITs, NITs or top institutions and those able to go abroad, this aspect is more or less taken care of. But what about the others? The government is making a valiant effort to change the education system through policy initiatives such as the NEP 2020.
This makes a heavy demand on an educational system that has hitherto been rigid with human resources that still need to be trained in the new mold. Young people are impatient and cannot be kept waiting, so they address this by innovatively exploring the bounty of the internet.
Students of all ages are going online to learn from Khan Academy, Coursera, among other ed tech resources, to prepare themselves for the future. This has boosted fortunes of a host of other companies making us believe that we have the answer.
But this is not enough. We need students taking lives in their own hands and building a portfolio of skills to help them discover their passion and to direct them to their destination – whether employment, a higher degree or a startup.
One good place to acquire these skills is the plethora of competitions that help one’s resume stand out from others. In India, we have various flavours, from “pure competitions” such as Smart India Hackathon (GoI) for small teams or Robocon for large teams representing colleges. Then there is e-Yantra Robotics Competition from IIT Bombay, that trains participants in futuristic technology stacks through “themes” or problem statements where both “hard” and “soft” skills are exercised in a six month long experience. The outcomes are top rate placements, the urge to higher degrees and even start-ups with the prize being a coveted six-week internship at IIT Bombay.
Finally, to reiterate: the world is looking for self-assured intelligent young people with the empathy to solve societal problems, the curiosity to ask questions and ability to solve these problems.
Courtesy : The Indian Express