- Training and Coaching since 1988
Emotion and motivation lead the training path
4 April 2018
Diversity Management, the challenge of inclusion
11 May 2018
It is difficult to talk about new professions without first examining the increasingly widespread fear of a hostile and uncertain future in which intelligent machines will steal jobs from humans.
The issue is also serious because it has not been raised as a real threat to the future development of our civilisation by glossy magazines or broadcasts in search of sensationalist reports, but by the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, in their appeal against the dangers of the uncontrolled development of Artificial Intelligence.
If we want to refer to specific predictions regarding the world of work, we need only cite the study by two Oxford academics, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, who calculated that in the next two decades, 47% of jobs in the United States could be wiped out by robots and intelligent machines.
The subject is still very controversial, however, and not everyone feels the same way: a recent OECD survey, by Melanie Arntz, Terry Gregory and Ulrich Zierahn, estimates that just 9% of jobs in the most industrialised countries would be at risk.
What is certain is that we are facing an epochal change, proof of which is that, contrary to what many people think, the impact of intelligent machines does not only concern the production sector, but is also expanding to the service sector, where the number of robots and intelligent software interfacing with users is already double that of the industrial sector.
A revolution that is involving sectors of the world of work, unimaginable until recently, linked to relational activities: lawyers, journalists, military personnel, nurses, doctors, babysitters, waiters, etc.
In short, no profession seems to be totally sheltered any more.
All professions are now being protected.
Protecting the value of human intelligence The fear of machines taking over man’s work is an ancient story that takes us back to the origin of the industrial revolution and the Luddites who destroyed mechanical looms. Selection through Artificial Intelligence As an example, we report the case of a large multinational company, Unilever, which has adopted, since 2016, a personnel selection process using Artificial Intelligence and Gamification.
But today’s fear is no longer towards the machine as a possible substitute for ‘labour power’: today the machine challenges man’s intelligence, his noblest aspect.
It is for this reason that we must be able to define and describe precisely what distinguishes human intelligence and in which areas it cannot be replaced.
We are aware that when intelligence is ‘computational power’, the machine is clearly superior to the human being, but we also know that only in a few cases, moreover controversial ones, has a computer succeeded in passing the Turing Test (fooling a jury of experts into believing it is talking to a human being at a distance).
If we look at the human brain with its 100 billion neurons and trillions of synapses, we realise that nothing like this has ever been even remotely constructed, and on the level of experience we realise that in terms of awareness and in the ability to flexibly process and contextualise the sense elements of reality, a child of a few months has vastly superior capabilities to any intelligent machine.
In the future, at least in the near future, there is therefore no challenge to elimination with machines, it is instead a matter of learning how to manage complex systems, evolved machine-human interfaces, better and better, as is already happening in some professions.
The first step concerns the opening of job positions on LinkedIn or Facebook by the company: the candidate registers without having to send a classic CV and an algorithm makes an initial assessment of skills based on the Linkedin profile.
The next step, for those deemed suitable, consists of a series of games measuring: concentration, short-term memory, general culture and problem solving.
The whole thing is also carried out from the comfort of your own home, from your smartphone.
Persons who pass this stage must submit a video message of their own, which sophisticated software processes according to voice, facial expressions, verbal style and content.
Only those who pass this last step are called into the company for a classic selection interview conducted by experienced psychologists, who will have the opportunity to analyse and evaluate all the data from the purely digital component of the selection process, integrating it with their evaluations during the interview with the candidate.
Backing then to the initial theme, it is quite simple to see that it is impossible to stop the great changes that are taking place, and it is for this reason that the best way to counteract the often unfounded fear of the future is through constant research aimed at gaining a better understanding of the distinctive elements and the true value of human intelligence.
Continue to nurture, through education, that heritage of cognitive flexibility that has characterised our extraordinary ability to adapt throughout history.
