Summer Davos weighs future of work as AI redraws career map

DALIAN, June 25 (Xinhua) -- As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms workplaces around the world, job-seekers are entering a labor market where expectations are changing at unprecedented speed.

According to a new World Economic Forum (WEF) report released ahead of this year's Summer Davos forum, AI is altering not only the skills employers value, but also the career pathways through which workers enter, develop and advance.

The report found that AI is having a more visible impact on younger workers and those entering the labor market. Globally, more than one in three young workers are employed in occupations with medium-to-high exposure to AI-driven task change, with the highest exposure seen in sectors such as financial services and information and communication.

Those findings resonated with discussions throughout the three-day forum in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian this week, where participants explored how AI is redefining the future of employment.

For many young people, this transformation is already fueling a sense of uncertainty.

"In the world, you were given a roadmap, but when you're out there, the terrain no longer matches that," said Ben Chua, president and chief executive officer of YouthTechSG, a Singapore-based youth-led tech community.

He said many young people are anxious about how they will enter the workforce as AI increasingly takes over the foundational tasks that once helped junior employees gain experience and prepare for more senior roles.

Yet there are optimistic voices from the employer side. Joanna Riley, chief executive officer and co-founder of Censia, an AI-powered talent intelligence platform, said graduates equipped with AI skills could outperform workers already inside organizations because they are less constrained by existing ways of working.

In her observation, while the existing workforce is still planning to include AI in existing workflows, "AI native" talents are inclined to redesign the process and approach problems with fresh perspectives.

Riley also said AI is creating entirely new roles, citing content engineers as one example.

According to Carl-Benedikt Frey, an associate professor of AI and work at the University of Oxford, while AI can perform an increasing number of tasks, human oversight remains indispensable.

Frey said that, if looking at the overall picture, AI is not so far having a major impact on the labor market, and the technology is likely to both replace some tasks and create new opportunities.

"Paradoxically, the better AI becomes, the harder verification becomes, and the more essential learning will be," he said, arguing that judgment and accountability will remain essential in many professions.

While speakers differed on the impact of AI on employment, many agreed that the technology alone would not determine the future of employment.

Instead, they argued, the bigger challenge lies in how organizations, education systems and policymakers respond.

"Successful AI transformation is not primarily a technology change. It is a people and organization change," said Deloitte China CEO Dora Liu, noting that organizations redesigning work around people and AI are more likely to improve productivity than those simply deploying new technologies.

Speakers also said education systems need to evolve alongside workplaces. Riley said employers are placing greater emphasis on qualities such as adaptability, problem-solving and judgment -- human skills that AI will not be able to replace.

Her view was echoed in the WEF report, which pointed out that the goal of education is not to prepare people for a fixed role but to equip them with the ability to adapt as jobs continue to evolve.

In China, policymakers have made employment a priority while moving to align AI development with employment goals. Authorities have pledged earlier this month to push forward the "AI Plus" initiative and explore new forms of human-AI collaboration in the workplace to translate tech advances into broader job creation.

For many participants, the challenge is no longer whether AI will transform work, but how societies can ensure that more people benefit from the transformation.

"Innovation moves at the speed of technology, while adaptation and application move at the speed of trust, clarity and benefits for all stakeholders," said Jonas Prising, CEO of workforce solutions company ManpowerGroup. ■