In the period of a week, the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) -The who receives the greatest number of students in the country- sent two mails to their community: the announcement of a diploma in Artificial Intelligence (AI) generative and an invitation to know the offer of short careers with rapid job departure.
The data arouses a series of questions related to the link between the explosion of AI, the world of work and professional training. How is artificial intelligence impacting on employment and academic offer? Are those linked to AI the races of the future? What tasks are at risk of being replaced?
The nation spoke with specialists in education, employment and in AI who claim that we live changing times in which decision making by young people is not a simple task. In the world of employment, activities are being constantly redefined by automation, while in the university world, high -studied houses must focus on the update of curricula and the creation of careers aimed at what the labor market demands.
According to the latest report published by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the incidence of AI in the workplace, 25% of world employment is concentrated in occupations potentially affected by AI and 3.3% of the works – about 115 million positions – are at automation risk due to the advances of these technologies. The investigation defined levels of exposure to the impact of the generative AI, with a Categorization of different occupations according to their level of risk.
Works and risks of being replaced
Financial analysts, bag and change agents, insurance brokers, dating forms and call centers operators, Among other works, they are located in the category of Maximum exposure.In the long list of significant risk, journalists, receptionists, bankers, mathematics and librarians are listed, while in moderate exhibition there are broadcasters, graphic designers, biologists, museum curators, event organizers, public relations and sellers door to door, among others.They run low or minimum risk photographers, physical, pedagogues, messaging services employees, actors, film and theater directors, astrologers, waiters, social workers, home caregivers, nutritionists, decorators, tourism guides and urban planners, Among others, some of which they would be exempt from being replaced by AI are doctors, farmers, miners, machine operators, mechanics, garbage collectors, babysitters, pastry chefs, artists, models, hairdressers and aestheticists.
Redefinition of tasks and competencies
Roxana Maurizio, a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IEP) of the UBA and Conicet, told La Nacion that, although it is difficult to make predictions in such a changing world, a clear tendency towards the constant redefinition of work and labor competences is evidenced.
“There is a lot to which occupations will impact AI, but the occupation itself does not have so much relevance. What you have to do is open the black box of each occupation and see what is happening with the tasks because Technological change does not impact the total of an occupation but on specific tasks. That is the real discussion: what tasks can be replaced, ”he said. According to the expert, even in the most routine occupations, which is identified with the advance of AI is a transformation in their content, but not a total substitution.
For Alejandro Artopoulos, sociologist and professor of technology and educational change at the University of San Andrés (UDESA) and in the UBA, we are in “turbulent and confusing” times that hinder the elections of young people regarding what to study or where to work.
“They have little perception of how AI is changing the labor market and are making decisions based on obsolete data from a supposedly perpetual growth of the demand for labor of the knowledge industry. Most of the boys who like mathematics and hard science oversized, ”said the specialist. In June, The Washington Post He published an investigation in which he presented the difficulty of young Americans recently graduated to access their first job. According to the medium, the Z generation stumbles into its initial steps in the working world since, among other factors, competes with AI.
According to Adriana Baravalle, academic director and leader of Synapsia, an academic initiative on the university of the university, the generation of current students intuitively includes that the labor market is transforming because they are digital natives that have seen the accelerated evolution of new technologies. “Junior positions do not disappear, but evolve towards roles that require human collaboration. Challenges, ”he said. In this context, the differences in access to technology seem to be crucial. “We are in a country with strong inequalities of gender, age, territorial. There will be young people very prepared for this future and young people who are left behind in that trend,” Maurizio warned.
New academic offer
Specialists agree that training is being reconfigured based on these new realities, especially in two aspects. On the one hand, Study plans are updated by integrating digital skills and so -called soft skills such as critical thinking. And, on the other hand, creating ad hoc short races for the needs of these times. In that sense, Baravalle indicated that The occupations that face the greatest pressure are those that correspond to repetitive tasks, which follow pre -established rules and can automate, as accounting or translation (although specialized niches subsist). On the contrary, among the races that are growing are: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering with specialization in AI, Psychology (especially organizational and UX), Nursing, Sustainability and Renewable Energies and Biomedical Engineering. Hybrids also gain ground, for example digital marketing.
“In the last five years many races appeared that mix tradition with the new, such as Digital businesses, which combines business administration with programming. This plan began with many programming matters, but today it is rethinking because so much programming is no longer needed, ”said Artopoulos.
How often should the educational offer vary in times of constant transformation? “Before the races changed every 10 years, today they change every two years. It is very difficult to carry out that rhythm and in fact that generates a generalized confusion, ”said the specialist.
For his part, Catalina Nosiglia, Secretary of Academic Affairs of the UBA, explained to La Nacion that new technologies and AI in particular are promoting the creation of grade, postgraduate and diplomatures careers.
“In exact ones, in addition to the Bachelor of Computer Science, the Bachelor of Data Sciences was created. In Engineering, an interdisciplinary orientation was approved in data and in all races. And, in economics, a technique was opened in data. On the other hand, in almost all careers, there are elective subjects related to AI, so that people are forming,” he said. And he added: “The focus is in exact, engineering and economic, but also in social and humanities to the extent that we do not neglect the ethical approach. Philosophy and social sciences are important in this regard.”
Critical thinking
Along the same lines, Artopoulos explained that, after a long time to be in decline, the social careers that point to critical thinking are reappearing. “Philosophical thinking today is very productive to think about new realities. In the world this is already being seen in careers that mix critical thinking and practical use of AI,” affirmed.
Maurizio added: “Soft skills, for example, flexibility to adapt to changing environments, teamwork, understand rules, are very important for those who enter the current labor market.”
The expert said that soft skills are increasingly relevant in labor searches. “But you are not thinking so much where they are taught and who certifies those skills,” he complexed.
According to Baravalle, the most important message for young people today is: artificial intelligence is not the enemy, it is the new reality of work. “The key is to develop complementary competences to AI: strategic creativity, ethical and critical thinking, interpersonal skills and continuous learning capacity,” concluded.
Despite the frantic rhythm of the changes, the logics to live with the most advanced technology are already being outlined for both young people who have to choose a career and for professionals seeking to remain active in the labor market.