Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing America’s workforce and will change the language used by Human Resources teams in hiring staff.
Agriculture, health care and entertainment require industry knowledge, and now also skills with AI.
Amazon partnered with Futuremade CEO Tracey Follows to predict AI-enabled careers, and assist students and professionals with envisioning how AI skillsets may be necessary in the next 15 years.
“Now is the time to explore how next-gen technologies will create new roles and enhance existing job opportunities in the workforce of tomorrow and we will need people at every stage of the process,” Follows said. “These career predictions can help plant the seeds for innovation across every industry, including new career clusters and pathways that don’t exist today.”
Agriculture is becoming a technical science and AI-trained analysts will further revolutionize farming in America and maximize crop yields while providing efficiency with resources required for food production. AI models will enable analysts to predict and lessen the impact of climate change when they assist with crop selection and allocation of resources like water and fertilizers. The prediction includes integration of robots that plant, harvest and monitor crops.
AI will introduce new job positions, including virtual tourism producer, and take some industries to the next level. Travel planning will include a virtual reality preview. Virtual tourism producers will create immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences with AI to showcase destinations and activities. They will curate and update VR content to highlight the latest news and cultural developments in different regions and partner with tourism boards to market travel experiences.
Repairing and restoring luxury goods will be possible with the help of AI. Craftsmen and women in artisanal restoration will use AI to repair and restore anything from couture fashion to antique furniture. AI will be able to identify and source original materials and assess the most effective techniques for each restoration to maintain the item’s original aesthetic, historical significance and value.
Cosmic reality engineers will harness human imagination and advanced AI skills to visualize the distant, and sometimes invisible, parts of the cosmos, such as stars, planets and entire galaxies. With a deep understanding of astrophysics, cosmology and astronomy, the engineers will contextualize AI-generated data and translate the abstract into visually stunning simulations that educate others about space.
Amazon also predicts AI nurses at the intersection of empathy and analytics who diagnose illnesses, monitor vital signs, and track medications and wellness plans. Exceptional interpersonal skills and strong medical knowledge have always been necessary in nursing, but nurses of the future will also be familiar with AI tools and data analytics to interpret AI-driven insights and translate complex analyses about diagnoses and treatment plans into language patients can understand.
How employees work is being changed by AI. Machine learning (ML) and generative AI tools are improving operational efficiency and worker productivity in fields like finance, IT, sales and marketing.
Amazon collaborated with Access Partnership to better understand how AI skills are taught in classrooms to enhance learning. More than 400 6th grade through university educators in four U.S. regions (Tennessee, Ohio, California and Seattle) were surveyed. The study found that more than 60 percent of teachers believe that having AI skills will be necessary for their students to obtain high-paying careers of the future.
However, 69 percent of educators said they lack resources to teach AI skills. They need more teaching materials, including free teaching software and more “train the trainer” programs to help students get ready for AI-enabled professions. AI skills courses are expected to become more available by roughly 1.5 times across surveyed U.S. schools in the next five years. More than 40 percent of educators expressed interest in receiving training on how to use AI-enabled curriculum research and development tools.
According to additional research, 3\4 of the employers who said hiring AI-skilled talent was a priority were not able to find the AI talent they need. Equipping students and working adults with foundational AI skills will help prepare them for a tech-enabled workforce and a variety of career possibilities most would otherwise not consider.
Amazon helps educators and students explore career pathways and skillsets in a number of ways including:
- Funds high-quality STEM Curriculum & Teacher Training to help schools implement K-12 computer science initiatives and help educators build student awareness of career pathways and job readiness.
- Awards Amazon Web Services (AWS) Generative AI Scholarships to more than 50,000 high school and university students globally to help them access the new Udacity course, Introducing Generative AI with AWS for free.
- Offers the Careers of the Future Index, virtual class chats, career tours, and project-based learning modules through Amazon Future Engineer, our global philanthropic education program that helps students explore STEM through real-world experiences.
“AI is the world’s fastest growing technology, yet in our sample of U.S. regions, only 24 percent of surveyed education institutions incorporate some form of AI skills training as part of their curriculum,” Victor Reinoso, global director of education philanthropy at Amazon, said. “Now is the time to inspire students through career exploration, providing both a window and mirror into to tech so they can not only learn about the variety of roles across our industry and others, but see themselves in careers of the future and develop the skills to pursue them.”