By akademiotoelektronik, 05/10/2022

Yes, artificial intelligence will reinvent our professions!

From the autonomous car to the receptionist robot, via e-health or chatbots, not a week goes by without us being introduced to artificial intelligence as the new revolution that will shake up our professions, profoundly modify our personal or professional relationships, or even change the world! Enough to revive, like computers and the internet in their time, the good old divide between (too) enthusiastic technophiles and (too) worried technophobes.

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AI and jobs: the return of creative destruction

In the world of work, even if the majority of us are Torn between two strongly opposed positions, sometimes attracted and sometimes frightened by the announced changes, a duel is being played out between those who praise the new professions of tomorrow, and those who cry out for the replacement of man by machine. Between the two factions, the battle of numbers is open.

While for some, "more than 2.1 million French people will see their jobs disappear in the coming years because of AI" (1), others claim that "58 million jobs will be created by 2022" (2) in the world, and that "85% of the jobs of 2030 do not exist today" (3).

As always, the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Artificial intelligence will certainly make certain professions disappear, just as the industrial revolutions were able to make coachmen, punchers or switchboard operators disappear in turn. But it will also create many others, totally unimaginable today, like the highly sought-after data scientists and DPO (Data Protection Officer), still non-existent less than 5 years ago. Enough to encourage creativity around new professions, such as the "psydesigner", who will have to give our personal assistants values ​​and personality traits compatible with ours, or the "personal data broker" who will help individuals to monetize their data. personal (4).

AI and change management: overcoming fear to identify opportunities

Even if the 30-year projection is positive, the impact is not neutral and there is a difference in size between the technological transformation in the long term and the human impacts of the latter in the short term. However, the situation today is that “60% of French people are afraid of artificial intelligence” and “4 out of 10 French people are afraid that their work will be supplanted by a machine in the years to come” (5).

The challenge therefore lies above all in the management of the transition, in other words… in the management of change. And in the IT professions, it is customary to say that a project that does not devote at least 20% of its budget to change management is a project doomed to failure. This gives a small idea of ​​the investments to be made to support the transition, when we know that the AI ​​market should weigh around 46 billion dollars worldwide in 2020 (6).

This change management involves training, initial and continuous, in the company of course, but also before, from school, and throughout life. This is to avoid reproducing with artificial intelligence the pitfalls that we know today with the Internet where, due to a lack of digital education, users are trapped by freedom of information and a liberation of knowledge that are changing in a jungle of "haters" and in the reign of fake news, especially on social networks.

This also involves supporting companies and their managers, particularly in SMEs, when “less than 15% of French companies today have artificial intelligence solutions” (7).

AI and DSI: clearing innovation to guarantee its business value

When we talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on companies, two ideas are commonly accepted today. On the one hand, AI will transform existing professions, to make us "augmented" employees, who will outsource our basic tasks to a machine to keep only those with added value (i.e. those that motivate us most). On the other hand, AI will create new professions, linked to data and its analysis but also linked to new uses made possible by algorithms.

In both cases, the Information Systems Department is at the forefront because it will be necessary not only to ensure the compliance and interoperability of tasks between man and machine, but also to develop new skills related to digital, related to the trades.

Not to mention that when the machine starts coding instead of the engineer, the latter will have to be able to interrupt the process at any time and understand it, to ensure AI compliance and control it. In the future, the IT department could therefore play a strategic role as an engine of AI, in charge of defining, with the business lines, its uses, then guaranteeing its operation.

Yes, artificial intelligence will transform our jobs. It is now up to us, actors in CIOs, in the profession, and business leaders, to orchestrate the best of both intelligences, human and artificial, to seize this opportunity and finally make it a real strength for our companies.

1. Study by the Institut Sapiens think tank published in August 2018 cited in the Dynamique Mag article "Artificial Intelligence: a real threat to our jobs?" (January 2019)2. Study by the World Economic Forum, quoted in the We Demain article “Artificial intelligence: 58 million jobs created by 2022” (September 2018)3. Dell and Institute for the Future report, quoted in the article in Le Figaro “A study confirms that 85% of the jobs of 2030 do not exist today” (July 2017)4. Silicon - “Employment: these 10 new professions created by AI” (September 2018)5. Odoxa barometer “Artificial Intelligence: concern is rising among the French” (March 2019)6. IDC figures, quoted in the Comarketing News article “By 2020, the AI ​​market will weigh as much as CRM” (April 2017)7. Les Échos Entrepreneurs “SMEs: the long road to artificial intelligence” (March 19, 2019)

Gianmaria Perancin is president of USF, the association of French-speaking users of all SAP solutions. Completely independent of the publisher, it brings together 3,300 members from 450 companies and organisations, i.e. 75% of the CAC40, 66% of the SBF120 and 50 administrations or public establishments. “Artificial intelligence, a new vector for transforming professions” will be the theme of the USF Annual Convention, which will be held in Nantes on October 9 and 10, 2019.