Highly skilled workers have been advised to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their skills and gain a competitive advantage.
A new study by the University of Otago found that as AI and automation became more sophisticated, the technologies would increasingly require human partners who could understand, use and manage them effectively.
Study author Murat Ungor said skilled employees would be wise to master artificial intelligence tools to gain a competitive edge in the changing job market.
Dr Ungor said while previous studies had explored how automation replaced tasks typically done by low-skilled labour, the Otago researchers shifted focus to how an AI-based education could have a positive effect for highly skilled workers.
He used the example of Fan Hui, a three-time European champion of the board game Go, who was defeated by an AI system in 2015.
“It was the first time AI had triumphed over a human player. However, once Fan Hui began upskilling by practising against AI, he was able to elevate his game and win his next European tournament easily.
“Fan Hui’s experience exemplifies how AI can be a powerful tool to reskill and upskill workers for the future,” Dr Ungor said.
“By strategically reskilling the workforce and fostering a deep understanding of AI technologies, we can ensure human capital not only survives but thrives alongside automation.”
Dr Ungor and his team developed a model showing how automation could lead to a rise in skill.
He said it outlined five production factors: traditional physical capital (such as machines or assembly lines); automation capital (such as industrial robots); low skilled labour (such as assembly line workers); highly skilled labour with a traditional education background; and highly skilled labour with an AI-based education background.
“The gap between wages of highly skilled workers and low-skilled workers will increase, with low-skilled wages falling while wages for highly skilled workers with a traditional or AI-based education initially rising.”
Dr Ugor said those who embraced AI-based education earlier potentially had a window of opportunity to command higher wages and stay competitive before the premium associated with those skills decreased as a larger pool of AI-skilled workers entered the job market.
