The Future of Labor in an AI World Posted on : Sep 07 - 2020

What will you be doing on Labor Day in 2030? How about five years from today? Will your job still be available? What skills will your employer demand? Nobody can forecast the future with total certainty, but a conservative reading of the workplace tea leaves suggests labor is in for a bumpy ride as technological advances make some jobs obsolete, while opening up new opportunities.

It’s a safe bet that people employed in the collection and analysis of data will be in demand in 2030. In fact, given the trajectory of big data analytics and artificial intelligence and where we are today, chances seem good that the world will need even more data scientists and engineers a decade from now.

That’s good for most Datanami readers, who (we dare assume) are involved in building data analytics and AI systems. But if you (or your cousin) happen to be employed in some other area, get ready for disruption, as there will be plenty of jobs lost due to automation at the hands of software-based machine learning systems and hardware-based robotics infused with AI.

Take self-driving cars, for example. Approximately five million Americans drive for a living, but these jobs will begin to disappear once autonomous cars and trucks hit the road.

Autonomous semi-trucks have already shown what they can do on public roads, albeit with human drivers serving as backup in the cab. But next year, they will be rolling down highways in full autonomous mode, according to Chuck Price, the chief product officer of TuSimple, an American-Chinese company based in San Diego, California, that develops software systems for self-driving trucks.

 “We believe we’ll be able to do our first driver-out demonstration runs on public highways in 2021,” Price told CBS News’ 60 Minutes in a piece that aired last month. From there, it’s just a matter of time (and investment) before the country’s 3.5 million truckers will be checking help wanted ads instead of weather and traffic sites. View More