In one of last week’s presentations, we emphasized the need for HR to evolve its role in understanding job creation possibilities through AI.  After the initial fear and noise surrounding job disruption due to AI, companies realize that AI can be a net creator of new jobs.  While it’s true that AI may automate certain tasks, the overall impact will lead to job creation.  A clear example is IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s recent statement in Tokyo, where he highlighted that AI would generate new business opportunities and ultimately result in a net increase in hiring.  (In last week’s email, I cited the staff impact that IBM was planning due to AI.)

The emphasis should be on the most critical activity of adding and refining skills within existing job roles rather than solely transitioning into entirely new roles.  We wrote about this last week as well and continue to gather more evidence that this is a transformational activity that HR should undertake

I read an interesting story about the invention of the third brake lights in Automobiles by psychologist Voevodsky, J. (1974).  (Voevodsky, J. (1974).  Evaluation of a deceleration warning light for reducing rear-end automobile collisions.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 59, 270–273.)

This story inspired me a lot.  After introducing brake lights in automobiles, rear-ending accidents were still not going down.  Psychologist Voevodsky thought about this problem and came up with a new solution.  In 1974, psychologist John Voevodsky, Ph.D., tested a small, inexpensive gadget that would eventually make US highways much safer.  The gadget was a third brake light, mounted in the base of rear windshields so that when drivers pressed their brakes, a triangle of light warned following drivers to slow down.  To test whether such a small addition would make a significant difference, Voevodsky equipped three hundred and forty-three San Francisco taxicabs with the third brake light and left 160 taxis with no additional light as a control group.  Taxi dispatchers randomly assigned taxi drivers to taxis with or without the third light, regardless of drivers’ preferences.  At the end of a 10-month experiment, taxis with a third brake light had suffered 60.6% fewer rear-end collisions than the control group taxis.  Additionally, drivers of taxis with the third brake light that were struck in the rear by other vehicles were injured 61.1% less often than drivers of taxis without the light, and repairs to all taxis with the light cost 61.8% less than repairs to taxis without the light.

In many ways, job roles are at this third brake light moment due to AI.  What is the activity that is going to keep humans relevant and impactful?

Let us take the example workloads of a content creator.  You can see Generative AI is impacting the workloads at varying degrees.  But the role of humans is not diminished

As you can see, the third brake light moment, in this case, is on Interpretative and Refinements Skills

Here are the top 8 labor market trends that we will have to monitor:

1. Smaller Ecosystems will gain more importance: AI is a talent equalizer.  Places like Bristol in the U.K., Bergen in Norway, Bandung in Indonesia, and multiple smaller US cities will gain importance.  So we have to understand this well
2. Job Descriptions need a revisit:  The role of machines in existing workloads means that JDs must be rewritten.  The good news is that AI and Draup will be here to help
3. Hyper personalized Learning Identification:  A supply chain professional may need to be trained on Traceability, and a cybersec specialist on zero trust security, etc.
4. Hire to train:  The market may not offer all the skills enterprises require.  As a result, the recruiter’s game plan will be to understand MVS (Minimal Viable Skills for scaling)
5. Workforce Planning will challenge Workforce Demand Assumptions:  The role of HR is already transformed to a higher level where more market research will help businesses understand demand assumptions (for example, if a business says they will need 1000 FTEs in the next three years on Shared Services, Workforce Planning may push back and play the role of consultants)
6. Non-Degreed Pathways may accelerate in Sales:  With certifications in Salesforce and other platforms and numerous soft skills training, non-degreed pathways may become viable in sales where Human skills are still at a premium
7. Industry Power centers will shift:  Japan, for example, is developing an all-Japan chip strategy, and Rapidus, a startup in this space, is gaining momentum significantly.  As a result, Japan is expected to regain foreign-based semiconductor talent working away from home.  As companies do more, new markets in Latin America and South East Asia will become a reality
8. It may be about going back to leap forward:  Recently, I met with an industrial company that wanted to analyze over 50 years’ worth of manuals and documents to understand deeper insights into their manufacturing process.  A very exciting workload that will be highly valuable for long-history companies. 

Here, we present a qualitative analysis of the areas where generative AI has the potential to make an impact.  (As a functional unit of work).  Humans still hold the advantage—at least for now.